The old downtown area, now known as Solidere after the development company founded in 1994 by then–prime minister Rafik Hariri to rebuild the center, used to be the heart of Beirut, where all ...

Hamra was mostly farmland west of the old downtown before World War II. It began to swell as a commercial and intellectual hot spot during the 1950s, when it was first paved.

Beirut used to have an area called the "green line," the border between Muslims and Christians. During Lebanon's long bloody civil war, it was dangerous, perhaps fatal, to stand near the line. But ...

BEIRUT — Not so long ago, the historic downtown of Beirut was a wasteland of scorched buildings and rubble. Lebanon's civil war, which ended in 1990, destroyed an area known for its picturesque ...

BEIRUT — Amid the largest anti-government protests Beirut has ever seen, something unusual has been unfolding in the city’s downtown. The center of Lebanon’s largest city sorely lacks public ...

“People do not feel welcome in downtown Beirut,” said Joseph Kamel, a 34-year-old salesperson from Ashrafiyeh, as he walked past the crumbling edifice of an old French art-deco apartment in ...

The taxi driver raced his aging Mercedes through downtown Beirut, past bullet-pocked ruins and new steel and glass office towers. Approaching a red light, he gunned his engine and sped through the ...