‘Our homes are open’: Tales of kindness in beleaguered Beirut

In the absence of any real help from the government, ordinary civilians are stepping in to support one another

Every few years the Keshishoghlian family’s home is blown up and they have to move and start a new life again.

In 2012 they fled the regime bombardment of Aleppo. Six years before that they escaped Lebanon, during the war with Israel. This time, the explosion that obliterated their house was not a barrel bomb or artillery shell, but nearly 3,000 tonnes of explosives that caught fire in Beirut’s port just a few hundred metres away.

The blast tidal-waved through the centre of the capital, taking windows and doors, belongings and bodies with it.