By Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily
BEIRUT, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Hezbollah has paid out more than $50 million in cash gifts to families affected by war with Israel, its leader Naim Qassem said on Thursday, as the Iran-backed group seeks to shore up its support base after a devastating conflict with Israel.
The payments of between $300 and $400 per person will total more than $77 million when paid out to all 233,500 families who registered, Qassem said in a recorded speech, thanking Iran for its financing of the effort alongside Hezbollah.
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Hezbollah will also provide a lump sum of $8,000 to those whose primary homes were destroyed in the war, and $6,000 for a year of rent for those living in Beirut or its suburbs and $4,000 for those living outside the capital until they can move back home, he said. The payments would be financed mainly by Iran, he said.
Israeli strikes have flattened swathes of Shi’ite majority areas Hezbollah’s support base call home in Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern and eastern Lebanon.
A ceasefire to the 14-month conflict took effect late last month, though Israel has been accused by U.N., French and Lebanese officials of violating it dozens of times.
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Israel says it is enforcing the terms of the deal and also accuses Hezbollah of breaching it.
With the guns mostly silent, Qassem said Hezbollah was turning its focus to reconstruction.
The World Bank says nearly 100,000 homes in Lebanon were partially or fully damaged during the conflict, amounting to $3.2 billion in damages and losses.
The conflict began on Oct. 8, 2023, when Hezbollah began firing on Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas, and then steeply escalated in September this year.
Qassem called on “Arab brothers” and the international community to participate in reconstruction and said Hezbollah would work hand in hand with the Lebanese government.
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(Reporting by Timour Azhari and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alison Williams)
