LEBANON: Hizbullah and its associates are busily rebuilding in southern Lebanon, from where Mary Fitzgerald reports
For months they have been a mainstay on the devastated streets of Beirut's southern suburbs. As soon as what the Lebanese now call al-Harb Tamooz (the July War) ended, Jihad al-Binaa's members were distributing aid supplies, food and money to displaced inhabitants of this Hizbullah stronghold.
The organisation's engineers and architects were next, sifting through the debris of several thousand homes, shops and offices pulverised during last summer's Israeli bombardment to assess the damage and draw up plans for reconstruction.
Today, its builders and volunteers continue to clear rubble and make repairs to buildings that escaped complete destruction. Jihad al-Binaa's - the name translates as "jihad [ holy struggle] for construction" - plans are ambitious: it hopes to achieve a complete reconstruction of the city's southern suburbs within three years. Its representatives run similar programmes in southern Lebanon.
Earlier this week, however, US treasury officials announced sanctions against the construction company, a wing of Hizbullah's extensive social services network. Designating Jihad al-Binaa as a terrorist organisation, the US accused it of using reconstruction efforts to bolster support for Hizbullah.
"Hizbullah operates Jihad al-Binaa for its own construction needs as well as to attract popular support through the provision of civilian construction services," said Stuart Levey, treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
"We will take action against all facets of this deadly terror group."
In a statement, the US treasury said Jihad al-Binaa receives direct funding from Iran, is run by Hizbullah members and is overseen by Hizbullah's governing council. Jihad al-Binaa has rebuilt thousands of homes, schools and hospitals damaged or destroyed by Israeli forces since 1993, but this is the first time the US has moved against the organisation.
"This is not a problem for us," shrugged Bilal Naim, a Hizbullah member co-ordinating reconstruction work in southern Beirut.
"It's not the first time one of Hizbullah's foundations has been designated a terrorist organisation. But it really doesn't make sense that those involved in rebuilding people's homes and lives are now considered terrorists."
In a relief tent overshadowed by lopsided towerblocks and piles of rubble, Naim outlined reconstruction plans for the area. Outside Hizbullah flags hung next to banners with slogans in Arabic and English. "The New Middle Beast" read one alongside another with "Made in the USA" in red and white lettering.
The Lebanese government is responsible for repairs to roads, bridges and other infrastructure destroyed in last year's air strikes, Naim explained, sitting next to an extensive display of anti-US and Israel cartoons.
Hizbullah's organisations, including Jihad al-Binaa, will rebuild homes and businesses, he added.
Until then, a majority of the district's inhabitants are living in temporary rental accommodation on the edges of the worst-hit areas.
Hizbullah officials have handed out $12,000 (€9,130) compensation to every homeowner whose house was destroyed in the bombing. Asked where this money and the funds used for reconstruction work comes from, Naim said it was a mix of religious donations and "funds from the leadership of the Islamic revolution in Iran".
Asked how much Hizbullah had received from Iranian sources, he replied: "It is not possible to give an exact figure right now, but it runs into hundreds of millions of dollars."
Many consider the US sanctions will have little impact on Jihad al-Binaa and its work, given that the organisation is unlikely to possess substantial assets in the US that can be frozen under the new restrictions.
"I cannot see this having any financial effect at all," says Ibrahim Moussawi, chief editor of al-Intiqad, Hizbullah's weekly newspaper. "But this distorting by the US of the image of important reconstruction work is difficult to take. It is irrational and illogical, no matter what way you look at it."
A scathing editorial in Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper deplored the move at a time when tensions between the country's political factions continue to rise.
A recent general strike called by Hizbullah and its opposition allies led to clashes in which several people died. Opposition figures have warned that an extended civil disobedience campaign against the US-backed government may be in the offing.