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TRIPOLI, LEBANON - JUNE 30: The Lebanese army on Wednesday (June 30) reportedly launched patrols in the city of Tripoli where people protesting the high cost of living and the depreciation of the local currency blocked the roads and opened fire into the air.Country’s NNA News Agency says “A number of young men cut off Syria Street in Tripoli’s Bab al-Tabbaneh, and the roads of al-Rifa in Qubba, Azmi in central Tripoli, and Wadi Hab in Abi Samra to protest against the deteriorating living conditions, the high exchange rate of the US dollar, the hiking prices of commodities, and the scarcity of fuel and medicine.”The protesters asked the shopkeepers to close their shops, opened fire in the air for a while.Later, army units were seen patrolling the city with armored vehicles.Lebanese pound, officially pegged to the dollar at 1,507 since 1997, traded at 17,900-18,000 to the dollar on the black market şast week on Saturday -- a record low.Violent demonstrations took place in Tripoli as the southern city of Sidon and the capital Beirut saw smaller demonstrations against the ongoing dramatic fall in living standards.A medical association stated that nearly 20 people were wounded in overnight scuffles in northern Lebanon between security forces and protesters.Lebanon is facing a severe economic crisis that has left it on the verge of a financial collapse and a deterioration in living conditions, the worst since the country’s civil war.The country is also grappling with a fuel crisis that has led to seemingly endless queues at gas pumps in recent weeks.(Footage by Ahmed el-Said/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)