Summary
Vegetable stands, sweet shops, bakeries and butchers in Tariq al-Jadideh were all heaving with customers Thursday as people assembled the necessary ingredients for the first iftar of the holy month of Ramadan.
A juice stall owner poured water on a brown sack filled with licorice and drained the brown liquid into a large bucket to make soos – a popular drink during Ramadan.
While many of the customers felt the festive atmosphere typical of the month of Ramadan, economic woes loomed as Lebanon's weary economy is highlighted during this time of year.
Despite the economic situation, shops were all selling out of the Ramadan necessities.
Hasan, one of the customers at the store, said that the soos was better in his native Aleppo in Syria.
Like many others, Hasan was spending Ramadan in Lebanon for the third year after fleeing the conflict raging in his home country.
Ghassan al-Sheikh, who is also from Aleppo but has lived in Lebanon for 29 years, said that there was more of a Ramadan atmosphere in Syria.
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