Photos: Fuel shortage brings Lebanon to standstill

People wait to get fuel at a gas station in Jdeideh, Lebanon. Lebanon's worsening fuel crisis has reached a painful crunch point, with bakeries, businesses and hospitals either scaling back operations or shutting down completely, making life even harder for Lebanese already enduring a financial meltdown.

Residents queue outside a gas distribution station to fill gas cylinders in Beirut. Lebanon's fuel crisis has exacerbated power blackouts and resulted in miles-long lines at gasoline stations during Lebanon's worst financial meltdown in memory.

As the fuel oil that powers Lebanon has disappeared from the market, Lebanese have sweltered at home in the summer heat without light or AC, routinely tossing out the contents of fridges while having to set aside hours to fill up the car - if increasingly scarce gasoline can be found.

A woman reads a book while waiting to get fuel from a gas station in Jal el-Dib, Lebanon.

Residents carry empty gas cylinders to refill in Beirut.

Lebanon's energy crisis is dragging people to unlikely places in their desperate quest for daily life's essentials, be it fresh air, lighting, a working fridge or petrol for their cars. Power cuts lasting more than 22 hours a day have become the new norm in a bankrupt country running out of literally everything, from fuel and gas to medicine and bread.

Many say living conditions are worse than during the 1975-90 civil war.

Traffic jam caused by cars lining up for fuel in Damour, Lebanon.

Barbers shave their customers outside their shop due to a power cut in Beirut.

A man uses his phone as he waits to get fuel from a gas station, in Jal el-Dib.

A woman stands on her balcony during a power cut, in Beirut.

A patient attends in a corridor of the government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital during a power outage in Beirut. Many private hospitals, who offer 80% of Lebanon's medical services, are shutting down because of lack of resources or turning away patients who can't pay.