It is not uncommon to see the image of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Shiite neighborhoods of southern Beirut. But past Martyrs’ Square, once the east-west dividing line between Christians and Muslims during the country’s civil war, the city begins to change.

The Mar Mikhael neighborhood is lined with fashionable bars and nightclubs where live music floated deep into the humid night before the coronavirus hit.