Lebanon's Souq al-Khoudar vegetable market, which was at the centre of violent clashes in the Tripoli neighbourhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, has been revived thanks to an US$88,000 renovation project funded by the US Agency for International Development, the country's Daily Star newspaper reported.
Stores and infrastructure had reportedly been left in ruins, with walls dotted with bullet holes and the roof destroyed.
Today, however, the merchants have returned, erecting their fruit and vegetable stands outside their restored shops beneath a new roof.
“Today when you enter the market you see it in a new light,' said Elias Khalat, the general coordinator for the Gathering of Civil Campaigns Against Violence in Tripoli, an NGO overseeing the restoration. 'Everything in it has changed.'
