Lebanon’s airport is under lockdown and completely closed since Wednesday, March 20th, isolating Lebanon from the rest of the world. The busy airport that has been shut down before only by wars, is now shut down by a virus.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) has snuck into Lebanon through Beirut’s Rafik Al-Hariri airport, riding from aircraft to aircraft, infecting passengers, and setting its sail on the soil of Lebanon.
This virus may have exceeded Ibn Batuta with the number of countries it visited in three months, but it certainly is the most unwelcome tourist the countries have ever encountered.
Even in Lebanon, the country that is known for its generosity and hospitality (and tolerance), cannot wait for the virus’s departure to an unknown destination. It has proved to be a burdened visitor at most.
The Lebanese photographer Nabil Ismail portrays what he calls “Coronavirus, the Dictatorship” in haunting images showing Lebanon’s airport empty like never before.
Few hours before the airport shutdown, Ismail caught through his lens the last goodbyes of those leaving; fear crippling down their spine as they leave Lebanon without knowing when they might come back.
No cars were parking and double parking and sometimes even triple parking as usual outside the airport, and no security force fining those parked for so long.
The staff of MiddleEast Airlines MEA prepared themselves for the last flight of the season, thinking of the long weeks of necessary home quarantine awaiting them.
Lebanon has officially shut Beirut Airport as well as all air, sea, and land ports (only in front of arrivals in relation to land and seaports), starting Wednesday, March 18th and until Sunday, March 29th.
That, though, is until further notice and subject to change.
Taking by the increasing number of confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, it is most likely that the government will extend the period of the general mobilization a minimum of two weeks.
This means Lebanon’s airport remains under lockdown until further notice.
Ironically speaking, Lebanon has finally found a solution for its overcrowdedness, for its expensive food, and for the four hours wait prior to a flight so none can be missed.
Silence reigns in the waiting area, the voice of the woman on speakers echoes in the empty walls, as the doors of the 1954 airport closes for the season, quarantining Lebanon from the world.
صوت السيدة التي تنادي المسافرين يصدح في مطار رفيق الحريري الدولي #بيروت رغم اغلاقه، مما يزيد من كآبة المشهد. pic.twitter.com/RlsKqtP7vh
— Ghinwa Yatim (@GhinwaYatim) March 19, 2020
Scroll down for more photos by Nabil Ismail of Lebanon’s Airport and how super creepy it looks under lockdown:
