The phrase “during the war” means different things to different people.

For most of Lebanon, it refers to the Civil War that devastated the country from 1975 to 1990.

But when Ahmad Khanati, a motorcycle mechanic in Jabal Mohsen, says the economic situation in the Tripoli suburb was “better during the war,” he’s referring to the armed clashes that have erupted sporadically between his neighborhood and adjacent Bab al-Tabbaneh, most recently in 2014.

Read More