Since the Aug. 4 blast, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased by some 220%, according to the International Rescue Committee. The country is also coping with damage to medical facilities.

A U.N. tribunal has found a member of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah guilty of killing a former prime minister but says it has no evidence of the group's leadership involved.

Last week's explosion has prompted new hopes for political change. But enormous challenges remain. Here's what's at stake and how things may play out.

The prime minister announced the resignations Monday after last week's deadly warehouse explosion in Beirut that killed scores of people. A warehouse filled with combustible chemicals blew up.

"May God protect Lebanon," Lebanon's Prime Minister Hassan Diab said as he announced his resignation days after a disastrous explosion rocked Beirut.

Tuesday's blast came against a backdrop of ongoing, unaddressed government dysfunction. Some of the country's chronic problems may help explain how 2,750 tons of explosives were neglected at the port.

The Lebanese people are growing angrier with their leaders after this week's explosion in Beirut, with questions being raised about official negligence as a possible cause in the deadly blast.

In Beirut, city residents continue to search for survivors after a devastating explosion Tuesday. Many residents believe government dysfunction contributed to the disaster.

In Lebanon's devastated capital, at least 137 people are dead and some 5,000 injured. A question looms over the stockpile of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate believed to have exploded: Why was it there?

Medical workers in and outside the country say there's a lack of medicine and tests.

A currency collapse is raising prices for everything and an overall economic collapse is making imported meat soar to about $25 a pound, driving Lebanese to the brink.

Racial reckoning in the U.S. has sparked conversations about racism worldwide. African students at the American University of Beirut share their experience of dealing with discrimination in Lebanon.

Domestic workers in Lebanon regularly suffer mistreatment and racism. An Ethiopian woman shares her experience of domestic work at a time when Lebanon is enduring an economic crisis.

The Syrian government, which faces the collapse of the country's economy, has started a public fight with President Bashar al-Assad's cousin, who is said to be the wealthiest businessman in Syria.

Syrian President Bashar Assad –- with Russian and Iranian help –- has weathered nearly a decade of armed uprisings, but his hold on power faces new threats as Syria's battered economy collapses.

In Yemen's hospitals, the medical staff have become the patients. With the beds filled, sick members of the public are turned away, and aid groups say a "catastrophe" is unfolding.

With its health care system already in dire condition, conflict-ridden Yemen faces what Doctors Without Borders is calling a potential "catastrophe" as COVID-19 spreads.

The Middle Eastern country had relatively few cases and had relaxed its shutdown. Residents will be asked to avoid outings except for emergencies.

"Hydroxychloroquine is included in the [Syrian] national case management guidelines for COVID-19," though there's no evidence that it's effective, a World Health Organization representative tells NPR.

Even with stringent lockdowns, the coronavirus has spread through migrant communities in some Middle Eastern countries where foreign workers live in cramped quarters.