Hezbollah outlines financial aid plan for Lebanese with destroyed homes

By Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam

Oct 13 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah will provide up to $14,000 in financial assistance to families whose primary homes have been destroyed or rendered uninhabitable during this year's war with Israel, the chairman of the group's Executive Council said on Tuesday.

Reuters reported last week that Hezbollah had received $200 million from Iran to help displaced Lebanese families, citing two people with direct knowledge of the transfer, though the US disputed Tehran's ability to provide such financial assistance.

Under the plan presented by Executive Council chairman Ali Damoush, eligible families in Beirut and its southern suburbs will receive $14,000, including $8,000 for furniture and $6,000 for rent. Families elsewhere in Lebanon will receive $12,000, comprising $8,000 for furniture and $4,000 for rent, maintaining the same rates as in 2024.

Damoush said the assistance would cover families whose homes were destroyed, deemed uninhabitable following technical assessments or severely damaged, as well as those displaced from Israeli-occupied areas or nearby locations.

The aid will be restricted to families who used the affected properties as their primary residences and do not own a second home, excluding summer homes and abandoned properties.

Payments will be made in four instalments over one year, starting with $3,500 for families in Beirut and its southern suburbs and $3,000 elsewhere.

Damoush said eligibility and the type of assistance would be determined according to a set of criteria assessing the extent of damage to each property.

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE UPROOTED BY THE WAR

Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Lebanon uprooted hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah’s Shi’ite Muslim constituents after the ​group entered the regional war in support of Iran on March 2, days after the US and Israel began attacks on Iran.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 4,300 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah received the cash last month despite tightening US economic pressure on Iran and increasing difficulties in getting funds to Tehran's Lebanese ally, according to the two people who spoke to Reuters.

At the time, a Hezbollah official ​said an amount had been secured and a plan for distributing it would be announced in the coming days, without elaborating on the source of the ⁠funds.

The United States disputed the Reuters report, saying the money was "not there". Iran has not commented.

Damoush on Tuesday declined to comment on either the Reuters report or the US reaction, and declined to provide a figure for the total amount Hezbollah would dedicate to shelter support.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily and Laila Bassam; Writing by Tala RamadanEditing by Gareth Jones)