Lebanon’s Hezbollah Promises $77 Million Payout to Those Affected by War
Hezbollah has distributed over $50 million in cash to families impacted by its 14-month war with Israel, the group’s new leader, Naim Qassem, said Thursday.
The payments, ranging from $300 to $400 per person, will total more than $77 million for 233,500 registered families, with financing largely provided by Iran, Hezbollah’s main backer, Qassem noted in a recorded speech from an unspecific location.
Hezbollah will also allocate $8,000 to those whose primary homes were destroyed, along with annual rent support of $6,000 for residents of Beirut and $4,000 for those outside the capital, Qassem said.
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The payments are allegedly intended to provide relief to the area’s most heavily affected, namely Shiite majority areas such as the capital Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern and eastern Lebanon.
While a US- and France-brokered ceasefire last month has led to a semi-permanent pause in hostilities, the conflict caused severe devastation throughout Lebanon. The latest figures from the UN-affiliated World Bank indicate that the 14 months of fighting caused damage or destruction to nearly 100,000 homes and losses upwards of $3.2 billion.
Qassem, a cleric and longtime second-in-command to the now-deceased Hassan Nasrallah, was formally selected as the group’s new general secretary in late October after his predecessor was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike a month prior. Qassem affirmed that Hezbollah would help the Lebanese government with reconstruction efforts and called for support from the Arab world and international organizations.
Outside of its well-known paramilitary arm, Hezbollah remains a powerful political force within Lebanon’s multireligious political system as the second largest Shiite party in parliament.
