Caught between trying to keep a gun to the head of Lebanese democracy and attracting international bailout funds, the Lebanese Hezbollah is mired in a growing crisis.

Economic concerns are front and center here. Lebanon’s economy, already under pressure due to its decrepit infrastructure, endemic corruption, and fundamental mismanagement, was on life support even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Its structural challenges have metastasized unchecked, barely veiled by artificial currency manipulation. Then, the virus came, and things quickly got a whole lot worse.