Hezbollah announces aid to Lebanese displaced by war with Israel

1. The aid distribution continues despite economic sanctions on Iran.
2. Lebanese authorities have increased control over Hezbollah’s funding channels.

BEIRUT: Iran-backed Hezbollah on Monday announced it had begun distributing financial aid to Lebanese displaced by the group’s latest war with Israel, despite efforts to dry up its funding sources.

The aid is being provided despite US economic sanctions on Hezbollah backer Iran, and Lebanese authorities tightening controls over the group’s channels for obtaining money and weapons, as part of their declared campaign to disarm the group.

Hezbollah announced in a statement that it had begun paying a first tranche of aid to displaced people in the Nabatieh region of southern Lebanon.

The group stated this was an act of “loyalty to the owners of the destroyed homes.”

On October 13, Hezbollah had announced that it would provide housing-related financial assistance capped at $14,000 per year for the displaced.

The assistance is earmarked for individuals whose homes have been completely destroyed or rendered uninhabitable, as well as residents of Israeli-occupied areas in the south, provided that the displaced have no other place to live.

Hezbollah indicated that the aid would be distributed in four installments over one year, without specifying the source of the funding or the exact number of beneficiaries.

This announcement marked the first aid distribution since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into a new war with Israel on March 2 in support of Iran, which the US and Israel attacked on February 28.

In December 2024, following an earlier conflict with Israel in support of Hamas in Gaza, the organization announced similar assistance worth $77 million to the displaced, describing it as a “a gift from the Iranian people and Hezbollah.”

Provisional figures from authorities indicate that wars waged by Hezbollah against Israel since 2023 have damaged or destroyed more than 290,000 homes, particularly in the south of the country and in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Violence in the south has decreased since June, following a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran and a framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel, which includes the disarmament of Hezbollah.