"The job has shifted 180 degrees," Irani said hurriedly, as she dealt with donors wanting to help. For her, and hundreds of thousands across Lebanon, life changed overnight last month when a long-simmering border conflict between Hezbollah and Israel exploded into full-on war. Some 1.2 million people - about 20 percent of the population - have been displaced by relentless Israeli airstrikes and an advancing ground invasion."
In towns and villages across the South and parts of the East, many abandoned their homes with no chance to make plans, sitting in traffic for hours in search of safety. In Beirut's ghostly southern suburbs, where Hezbollah maintained a significant presence, families fled apartments with whatever they could carry.
The government has set up 973 shelters across the country, housing almost 180,000 people, but most are already at capacity. While some families have been able to afford hotel rooms or apartment rentals, many others have been reduced to squatting in vacant buildings or sleeping in cars and public parks.
Skybar, in Beirut's plush waterfront district, was never meant to be a shelter, but when people began parking nearby and camping out on the pavement, the owners felt obligated to help. 'We started off with 70 people, and now we're around 400,' Irani said.
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