The physical destruction throughout the Middle East is obvious: bombs fly, bullets tear, civilians and soldiers fall. In Lebanon, plants and factories burn as morale among the country’s workforce has already hit an all-time low. Despite the gloomy picture of industry and worker plight throughout Lebanon, however, wheels of industry are beginning to turn again in Iraq.

The physical destruction throughout the Middle East is obvious. Bombs fly, bullets tear, civilians and soldiers fall. And plants and factories burn, as industry takes a hit.

The Maliban glass factory, in Chaura, 40km east of Beirut in the heart of the Bekaa Valley, used to produce some 200 tons of glass a day and employed 400 people. In two minutes on July 18, it was gone, as two Israeli fighter jets fired a handful of rockets on the production hall, reducing it to rubble, factory manager Salah Baraki recently told the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Lebanese industry is being hindered by both sides of the conflict. The Israel Defense Force (IDF) has bombed targets throughout Lebanon, while south Lebanon-based Shi’ite Muslim political and militia group Hezbollah has fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel.

Because the factory was struck around lunch time on that particular day, Baraki only lost two workers of the 41 who had come in that day.

This was not the only factory hit. Early this month, Baraki said five factories were bombed in the area, resulting in some 1,300 people losing their jobs. Dalaal, which houses several factories under one roof, including a prefabricated-homes plant, was another. None of the 400 Dalaal workers were killed because the owner closed his company when he heard of bombing in Maliban. On the road to Baalbek, a Hezbollah-dominated city further north in the Bekaa Valley, milk factory Libanlait was also destroyed by two rockets.

Despite a shaky cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s dream of 2006 as a record year for economic growth has turned into a nightmare. (The already-shaky cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah was tested just today as the Israeli army fired artillery into a disputed border region in response to what it said was an attack from inside Lebanon. Sporadic violence has marked the U.N.-brokered cease-fire that took hold Aug. 14 and ended 34 days of ferocious fighting, but the truce has thus far held.) With thousands of nationals and foreign workers having evacuated, more than 500,000 internally displaced people, and until-recently frequent Israeli air strikes and Hezbollah rockets, a bleak scenario has confronted the country’s industry and workforce, indeed.

“Morale among the Lebanese workforce is at an all-time low,” according to Nicolas Photiades, head of research at Beirut-based Blom Invest., in another U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs article. Most nonessential employees last month were asked not to come to work as their managers feared for their lives. Others have been working half days but have struggled to motivate themselves.

“In the banking and investment sector, a cornerstone of the Lebanese economy, uncertainty is very significant in preventing foreign investment,” said Photiades

Oil-rich Gulf countries have been central to the continued economic growth of Lebanon with huge investments that were expected to create thousands of jobs, said Photiades. Now the investment firm’s head of research fears they will withdraw and with them will go many of Lebanon’s skilled workers.

Despite the gloomy picture of industry and worker plight throughout Lebanon, wheels of industry are continuing to turn in other parts of the Middle East.

Recently the Multi-National Division-Baghdad (MND-B) assessment team conducted a three-day visit of seven state-owned factories in Baghdad in a continuing effort, coordinated with Coalition forces and the Iraqi government, to help improve local industry.

The goal of the operation, according to a feature last week on the Multi-National Force-Iraq official Web site, is to “increase the factories’ productivity, which will hopefully lead to an increase in employment, stimulation of the local economies and stability in the local neighborhoods.”

In June, the assessment team visited four other state-owned factories in and around northern Baghdad and plans to continue visiting production plants throughout the MND-B area of operations.

“We’re trying to develop an engagement plan specifically tailored to each state-owned production plant,” said Air Force Capt. William Deitch, judge advocate general.

Reports the article:

Tahseen, an Iraqi factory manager, expressed his excitement and eagerness to work with MND-B toward improving the factory, the local area and the economy. Training in management, marketing, finance and other essential business skills is something that can be facilitated by organic MND-B assets and outside organizations, said [Navy Cmdr. Jeff] Hensley.

Hensley is attached to MND-B’s civil military operations and is leader of the assessment team.

“Many of these companies are anchors in a micro-economy — one frequently plagued by violence and unrest,” explained Hensley. “The economic multiplier effect of additional wages being funneled into the surrounding communities is potentially huge.”

Smaller businesses are likely to benefit, generating more business and employment. And supporting employment and boosting the economy helps strengthen and rebuild the infrastructure.

“My team and I are simply trying to get the ball rolling,” Hensley said. “It will be the managers and the employees of these (factories) that will play the key role in Iraq’s economic development; they are highly motivated to succeed.”

Earlier: Is War-Torn Lebanon Able to Recover?