Society

Medicines in Lebanon remain available, but war, transport costs and rising consumption are weakening the market.

Laetitia Aoun validated her qualification for the Asian Games 2026 in Japan after reaching the quarter finals of the Asian Taekwondo Championships in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in the category of less than 57 kg. Guided by Grand Master Elijah, the Lebanese champion confirmed her position after her Olympic race in Paris 2024. The Lebanese Taekwondo Federation is now preparing a specific programme before Aichi-Nagoya.

Marriage in Lebanon now occurs at very high ages, with 34.4 years for men and 30.4 years for women in comparable international data. This brings the country closer to Western Europe, but above all reflects a deep economic and social crisis. Inaccessible housing, unstable wages, destroyed savings, youth unemployment, emigration, long-term studies and absence of local civil marriage push back the family settlement.

Pope Leo XIV authorized the promulgation of a decree recognizing a miracle attributed to the intercession of Elias Hoyek, former Maronite patriarch and founding figure of Greater Lebanon. This decision paves the way for its beatification. The miracle concerns Nayef Abu Assi, Druze officer of the Lebanese army. In Lebanon, the announcement causes religious joy and a national echo, as Hoyek's name remains linked to the unity, coexistence and birth of modern Lebanon.

Iran did not become Shiite by mere missionaries from southern Lebanon. But the Jabal Amel has provided the Safavids with scientists, lawyers and doctrinal cadres essential to transforming a state decision into a lasting religious order. A more complex, political and fascinating story than the slogan.

In Lebanon, war no longer destroys only roads, bridges or houses. It reprograms the entire economy around urgency, short term and survival. Emergency aid, frozen investments, partial returns and exsanguated public finances are now drawing up a genuine prolonged war economy in the country.

In southern Lebanon, the ceasefire has not yet allowed a real return. Families return to their homes, control the damage, and then return to their temporary homes. Between repaired roads, reopened bridges and fear of a resumption of fighting, they now live between two lives, without being able to resettle permanently at home.

The World Health Organization warns about the critical state of the hospital system in Lebanon. At its site, the institution states that access to essential care is increasingly under threat, that several hospitals have been closed or damaged, and that critical stocks need to be replenished urgently to avoid shortages and interruptions of treatment. If the exact formula on a lack of supplies "in the next few days" has not been found as such, the background of the alert is well present in the official WHO documents

Moon mission: Artemis II took off, re-launching manned flights to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.

In Lebanon, war begins with the daily economy. Local businesses, displaced families and essential services suffer from the immediate effects of escalation. With more than 800,000 displaced persons and saturated services, the crisis not only destroys infrastructure: it breaks the ordinary economic circuits that hold society.

Lebanon has won six places in the World Bank's 2026 global ranking on women's economic rights, but its score of 46.8 out of 100 for the legal pillar remains well below the world average. The country appears particularly weak on support frameworks and on the effective application of the rules. This gap between written law, institutions and economic reality limits women's autonomy and hinders productive potential.

In Lebanon at war, detainees and families become the forgotten of an emergency saturated by strikes and diplomacy. Between institutional silence, endless expectation and the recurring issue of the general amnesty, their fate reveals the fragility of the state, justice and the right to a clear response.

In Lebanon, the war feeds a parallel economy of scams, abusive housing and false intermediaries. With more than 500,000 internally displaced persons and 45 per cent inflation, the crisis is turning the emergency into a market and exposing the most vulnerable to predation that worsens their survival.

With over 800,000 displaced, Lebanon is entering a new geography of emergency. The South is emptying, Beirut and Mount Lebanon are saturating and collective centres are increasing, transforming the territory into a space of forced circulation and lasting humanitarian crisis.