Lebanon

Lebanese gather at a public beach in Beirut on Aug. 2. Lax governance has allowed developers to turn much of the coastline into private clubs, leaving a dwindling number of public beaches along the Mediterranean. Jamal Saidi/Reuters /Landov hide caption

Members of the Syrian band Khebez Dawle include (from left to right) Hekmat Qassar on guitar and keyboards, lead guitarist Bashar Darwish, bassist Muhammad Bazz and lead singer Anas Maghrebi. Half the band members are now in Turkey, and are strongly considering seeking asylum in Europe. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

A Lebanese woman covers her nose as she walks past piles of garbage on a Beirut street. Hassan Ammar/AP hide caption

Syrian refugees live in makeshift shelters in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, just a few miles west of the Syrian border. Jason Beaubien/NPR hide caption

At Anise, a bar in Beirut, Lebanon, beloved local herbs like za'atar, sage and rosemary are making their way into cocktails. "We want to do something fresh in our cocktails," says co-owner Marwan Matar. Alice Fordham/NPR hide caption

Syrian refugees carry gasoline under heavy snow fall at the a U.N.-run refugee camp of Fayda near the Bekaa Valley town of Zahle in eastern Lebanon on Jan. 7. STR/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A Syrian refugee child carries water in the Fayda Camp, some 25 miles east of Beirut, Lebanon, on March 10. Jerome Delay/AP hide caption

Mona, 28, narrates during a rehearsal of Antigone. "I feel that Antigone resembles me a lot," says the former resident of Damascus and mother of two. Dalia Khamissy for NPR hide caption

Mazen Hariz, a bartender and business student in east Beirut, says it took him seven months to grow his beard. Tim Fitzsimons for NPR hide caption

Lebanon's parliament sits in Beirut's rebuilt Nejmeh Square, near the center of the city. Unlike many of Beirut's neighborhoods, the square is often mostly empty. Tim Fitzsimons/NPR hide caption