After Beirut, grief and pain in the Australian Lebanese diaspora

Published: Aug. 13, 2020, 5:30 p.m.

Lebanese Australians are accustomed to bad news from Beirut, but last week’s explosion in the port, which killed at least 220 people and wrecked buildings across the city, brought a new kind of despair. Antoun Issa reflects on the weight of Lebanon’s violent past in Australian families, and the struggle to offer practical help in the aftermath of the explosion, amid the country’s economic chaos and entrenched political corruption