Lebanon will need support from the international community to rebuild in the aftermath of the devastating explosion in the port of its capital, Beirut, the country’s President told world leaders, gathered virtually at the United Nations General Assembly.  

Last Saturday was another scorching August day in Lebanon’s shattered capital of Beirut, but UN staff members who had gathered outside UN House – itself damaged during the deadly port explosion - were determined to get straight to work, and stand in solidarity with the country they call home.

While the “heated” wars in the Middle East over the last decade have recessed, the President of Lebanon told the United Nations General Assembly’s annual general debate on Wednesday that Syria’s displacement crisis has had repercussions on his country’s “security, political, social, economic and environmental spheres”.