Road closures have hit agricultural exports the hardest, since they rely predominantly on land routes and cannot be easily transported by air or sea.
"Our trucks transported our agricultural and industrial products. This is what carried Lebanon's economy," Ali said, adding that the losses could be in the millions of dollars.
"Now we have 900 refrigerated trucks that are just sitting inside Lebanon," with others stuck in the Gulf, he told AFP.
Alam said he lost at least one million dollars in the three weeks after Nasib's closure.
According to the agriculture ministry, the sector employs 20 to 30 per cent of the Lebanese workforce.
Many truckers can now be found discussing their plight at their syndicate's offices in Bar Elias in east Lebanon.
Khaled Araji, 55, is just one of hundreds of Lebanese who used to drive goods through Syria to the Gulf, and whose livelihood has now on hold indefinitely.
"I just spend my time in the house. I've worked in this business for more than 30 years, and if I don't see the (truck's) refrigerator every day, I can't relax. This job is in my blood," Araji told AFP.
Ali said truck drivers made $1,500 a month "to provide for their families by generating activity in other sectors. All of this has stopped now."
To make up for routes through Syria being closed, the Beirut government is looking at exporting these goods by sea.
According to Ghobril, this alternative "requires more time than by land, and it's definitely more expensive, but it's still better than nothing".
But Alam downplayed the effectiveness of maritime transport, saying some green produce would not stay fresh long enough for the journey.
In his warehouse in Bar Elias, young men and girls pack oranges, apples and fresh lettuce -- whose prices have dramatically dropped -- into crates and boxes for export by air.
As the peak harvest seasons in August and September draw closer, exporters and truckers are hoping for a speedy solution to the problem.
But Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, speaking after a cabinet meeting on the crisis last week, was not hopeful.
"Unfortunately, we have become an island," he said.
By Layal Abou Rahal
