From blast to banking crisis, one woman embodies Lebanon's complete collapse

Nassma Cheaito, kisses the hand of her sister, Liliane Cheaito who is mostly paralyzed from August 2020 Beirut port blast, as she lies on hospital bed at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) in Beirut, Lebanon July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Issam Abdallah

Liliane Cheaito's scratchy, laboured breathing went on until a nurse appeared at her hospital bed, where the 28-year-old has spent nearly every moment of the last two years in silent suffering following the Beirut port explosion of 2020.

Using a suctioning machine, the nurse emptied her lungs of built-up phlegm and Cheaito's heaving chest finally eased.