Hezbollah hands out cash to war victims

Hezbollah began handing out cash payments to the people whose homes were destroyed in the 34-day Israeli offensive in Lebanon, Reuters news agency reported.

Hezbollah said on Friday that it had compensated about 120 families with the $12,000 cash payment so far.

The cash payments are aimed at helping victims of the Israeli bombings rent a flat for a year and furnish it, Hezbollah officials said.

"We have full information on all the buildings that have been destroyed or damaged," a Hezbollah official said.

"Later on, we will either pay for new flats or rebuild the buildings that were destroyed,” he added.

Collecting the cash payment, Ayman Jaber, 27, whose home was in the Beirut’s devastated southern suburbs, said: "This is a very, very reasonable amount. It is not small.”

In his first speech after a UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, Hezbollah’s chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah offered the compensation payments and promised to help with the reconstruction efforts, vowing to make Lebanon “better than before”.

He said about 15,000 homes were completely destroyed in the Israeli bombardment, adding that his group would pay for repairs to houses that were still standing.

Hezbollah didn’t say where the funds are coming from. Reports say the scheme could cost more than $150,000 million.

Correspondents say Hezbollah’s cash payments could embarrass the Lebanese government, which didn’t launch any similar scheme.

The government’s reconstruction chief has said that Israel’s bombardment inflicted a "disastrous" $3.6 billion worth of physical damage on Lebanon that could take years to recover.

Al-Fadl Shalaq, head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, said that the devastation from Israel’s five-week offensive exceeded that caused by Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

"I have witnessed all the wars in Lebanon but I have never seen a war this fierce and I do not see a response to clearing the rubble of war to match it," he told Reuters.

According to analysts, the efforts of Hezbollah, which runs a large network of health, education and social centers, to rebuild the country, coupled with its hard-won reputation as the only Arab force that fought Israel to a standstill, has boosted the group’s image.

“Hezbollah has two pillars of support: the resistance and the social services. What this war has illustrated is that it is best at both”, said professor Saad-Ghorayeb.

Hezbollah has an extensive social welfare network as well as 14 members in the 128-seat parliament and two cabinet ministers.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 1,181 Lebanese civilians, 30% of them children under 12, left much of Lebanon’s infrastructure in ruins and displaced nearly a million others, sparking what aid agencies describe as a humanitarian crisis.

Some 116 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have also been killed.

UN officials say more than 200,000 displaced people have returned to southern Lebanon, adding that an equal number of people also returned to their homes in the heavily bombed southern suburbs of Beirut.

"There has been a phenomenal return of the displaced Lebanese to their homes,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis.

She added that about 107,000 people, who fled Lebanon to Syria, have also returned to the war-torn country.

Lebanese troops deploy, no agreement over UN force

Lebanese troops continue to move into southern Lebanon as part of the five-day-old truce, as the United Nations struggles to work out the details of the deployment of a strengthened UN force of up to 15,000 soldiers, the BBC reported.

On Thursday, the Lebanese army began deploying a force that will eventually number 15,000 soldiers south of the Litani River, about 20 km from the border with Israel.

Correspondents say the Lebanese deployment marked a first step toward extending government control in a region Lebanese troops have largely avoided for four decades.

"Today is a new beginning for us in south Lebanon," said George Najm, a 23-year-old from the southern village of Qleia. "We'll need some time to feel safe but it's a great start."

Under the UN ceasefire resolution, Israeli troops must start to withdraw from southern Lebanese as foreign peacekeepers and Lebanese soldiers deploy. Hezbollah must also pull its fighters out of the area.

Israel says it has withdrawn from two-thirds of its positions in southern Lebanon, including the port city of Tyre and villages of Qana, Hadatha and Beit Yahoun.

Meanwhile, UN officials expressed cautious optimism that they can deploy an initial 3,500-strong force within two weeks.

Correspondents say countries ready to contribute to the UN force are concerned over their troops’ safety and the rules of engagement.

France, which had agreed to lead the UN force, said it would send only 200 extra troops immediately, far fewer than expected.

"You can't send in men telling them: Look what's going on but you don't have the right to defend yourself or to shoot," French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told RTL radio.

Other countries who have pledged troops for the UN deployment are Italy, Bangladesh, Nepal, as well as Indonesia and Malaysia, who don’t have diplomatic relations with Israel.

But Israel’s UN envoy Dan Gillerman expressed unhappiness with the proposed deployment of Malaysian and Indonesian troops.

"It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognize Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," he told the BBC.

Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, has a Muslim majority population, dismissed Gillerman’s comments, saying that Israel should have no say in the make-up of the UN force.

"We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.

Mass funerals

Meanwhile, Lebanese people held mass funerals for those killed during the past month.

In the southern port city of Tyre, about 138 coffins that were dug up from a temporary mass grave were given to the victims' relatives for proper burial.

And in Qana, a mass funeral was held for the 28 civilians, mostly women and children, killed in a deadly Israeli air strike on July 30.

"The Israelis are savages, they are heartless," Fatmeh Farhat, who lost several of her cousins in the Qana massacre, told AFP.

"They should fight against our combatants and not our children and our disabled people."

In a separate development, Beirut's international airport reopened to commercial flights for the first time since Israel attacked its runways on July 13.

According to AP, Israel’s blockade had been partially lifted to allow flights between Amman and Beirut.

Airport officials said full commercial traffic could resume next week.

However, Israel’s army officials, who are coordinating the arrivals, said this was a one-time affair and did not constitute an end to the air blockade.

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