Chronicles of the Crisis

Investigating Power and Plunder.

A composite image of different National Social Security Fund (NSSF) offices.

The Full Story Behind the Looming Collapse of the National Social Security Fund

Karim Merhej

Kareem Chehayeb

Composite of images taken at a protest organized by the Beirut Port Explosion Victims' Families and the Lebanese Union for People with Physical Disabilities to demand justice for people killed and injured by the blast. Sylvana Lakkis, president of the union, is the center of the image. Photos taken on July 4, 2021, by Hussein Baydoun. (The Public Source)

“And What Would You Like Me to Do About It?”: How the Lebanese Government Disabled Hundreds of People — and Then Left Them to Pay for Its Crime

Karim Merhej

Kareem Chehayeb

Christina Cavalcanti

Image overlay of a shopper carrying grocery bags over a deserted city street at night. Beirut, Lebanon. 2021. (The Public Source)

“We Didn’t Even Try”: How Lebanon's Chaotic COVID-19 Strategy Let Thousands Die

Yara El Murr

A composite photo. A group of five men in suits are huddled together in the foreground deep in discussion. In the background is a hallway with stacks of loose papers, merged with a large poster that reads: "UNDP's Technical Support to the Ministry of Finance in Lebanon: Closing Event."

Inside Experts: What Happened When an Army of Consultants and Technocrats Tried To Fix Lebanon

Richard Salame

A composite of archival images from Assafir newspaper of the offices of Intra Investment Company and the opening of the Finance Bank, one of Intra Holdings' most secretive holding companies, on December 7, 1999. Mahfouz Sakina, Hassan Farran, Yacoub Al Sarraf, and Salah Harakat are seen cutting a cake. (The Public Source)

Intra Investment Company: The “Lebanese State’s Best Kept Secret”

Karim Merhej

A man rides a motorcycle on a road filled with sewage water. Bamboo sticks protrude from the side of the road.

From Flush to Crop: Akkar Farmers’ Desperate Use of Raw Sewage Water

Layla Yammine

Richard Salame

Drawing of a small boat sinking.

Intercepted at Sea: The Deadly Reality of Border Control

Yara El Murr

A composite of a forged document claiming the successful incineration of the toxic waste, the Radhost motorship, and the toxic barrels. (Photos © ShipSpotting/Wolfgang Kramer & © Dr. Pierre Malychef from Lab of False Witnesses for Ecotoxicological Research and Communication)

The “Ecological Time Bombs” Unloaded at the Beirut Port Decades Ago

The Public Source

A composite image: the foreground shows a small yacht speeding away; the background shows a darkened image of the sea and the horizon.

Intercepted at Sea: Anatomy of a Pullback

Yara El Murr

A composite of people protesting, barrels of toxic waste at a quarry, and a “river of trash”.

Merchants of Death

The Public Source

Image of the Mediterranean sea in the background, and a young man in the foreground.

Intercepted at Sea: The Drowned, the Saved & the Missing

Yara El Murr