A record number of people departed Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport on Friday, said Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan. She said 22,800 travelers left the country, expressing in a tweet her “understanding” of the arduous wait in queues. “We will exert all possible efforts to overcome” the long lines at the facility, she said. The number of travelers is expected to increase next week with the end of the Eid al-Adha holiday as more Lebanese expatriates return to their homes abroad. Airport director Fadi al-Hassan predicted to Asharq Al-Awsat that the number of travelers between August 19 and 25 will exceed the figures recorded on Friday. Some 4 million travelers were recorded at Lebanon’s only functioning airport during the first half of 2019, marking a 4 percent rise for the same period last year. The number of travelers in July jumped 2.65 percent compared to 2018.