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Hizbullah Spends Millions to Rebuild Beirut's Southern Suburbs

Mon, Mar 03 2009

Salam Hassoun is thrilled by the new flat Hizbullah has built for her to replace the one Israeli bombs destroyed during the 2006 summer war on the Shiite group. The deafening explosions of Israeli bombs have been replaced by the grinding cacophony of earth-movers and cement mixers contracted to rebuild 241 of the 282 buildings destroyed in the bombing.

The project, dubbed Waad (pledge in Arabic), has won the heart of Hassoun but has also raised a storm of political dust between Hizbullah and the government, whose authority in the southern suburbs has lagged for decades.

"I used to dream of an apartment where the living room was separated from the dining area and where the kitchen would be much bigger, and Waad gave me that," Hassoun told Agence France Presse during a Hizbullah-organized tour of Haret Hreik.

"May God protect (Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan) Nasrallah. He has kept his promise," she said from her ninth-storey flat in one of several spanking new towers. Project director Hassan Jechi told AFP 400 million dollars have been allocated to transform the southern suburbs into a modern, residential area.

In Haret Hreik's so-called "security area", where Nasrallah once lived and Hizbullah had its headquarters and which became "ground zero" in Israel's onslaught, reconstruction is now at its zenith. Jechi said Hizbullah institutions will move out of the area, where developers "will only put residential buildings and a public park to give residents a breathing space."

Waad has adopted modern criteria to build earthquake-proof apartment blocs, widen streets and pavements in this once-congested area and put parking lots and artesian wells where there were none.

"The war damaged 1,200 buildings and destroyed 282 others," said Jechi, adding that in addition to the 241 buildings Waad is rebuilding, Hizbullah association Jihad For Reconstruction is restoring 951 others. People have already moved into 20 buildings and the entire project should be completed within 18 months, he added.

Jechi and Hizbullah are evasive when it comes to revealing where they are getting the funds to carry out this massive project, amid wide speculation that Iran is Hizbullah's main financial backer.

"There are donations from Arab countries (which are given through the government), material assistance given through Waad while the rest is footed by Jihad For Reconstruction," Jechi said.

Jechi complained that the government was only providing 30 percent of the 400 million dollars needed by Waad to rebuild the southern suburbs, which Hizbullah detractors consider a state-within-a-state.

The government's contribution "is slow and insufficient," he said. But Fadi Aramouni, who heads the state-run Central Fund for the Displaced says "the government did not promise to rebuild (the suburbs) but pledged to give compensation."

According to him, the government has so far disbursed 100 million dollars in compensation and is expected to give an equal amount. Aramouni dismissed Jechi's criticism, adding the claim that Hizbullah had embarked in a major reconstruction drive that need more funds than those pledged by the government.

"Hizbullah has adopted a costly plan while the government is providing funds to restore buildings to what they were before the war," he said. Analysts say the reconstruction drive has triggered new rivalries between Hizbullah and the authorities and is bolstering the popularity of the Shiite group.

"Hizbullah will certainly benefit from this reconstruction project because it is cementing the loyalty of the people," said Ahmad Baalbaki, a professor of sociology. In contrast, for decades the government neglected the development of the southern suburbs, and Hizbullah stepped in to fill the void.

"Before Hizbullah, in the 1980s, even in the 1970s, the southern suburbs was like a jungle. Where was, then, the authority of the state," he asked.