BEIRUT — At a malicious political timing that matches the anti-resistance conspiracy to prevent the reconstruction of what has been left behind by the US-led Israeli aggression, the World Bank issued a report titled “Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment in Lebanon”.

Undoubtedly, the main goal of the World Bank report is to exaggerate and magnify the losses, as the content of the report is completely consistent with the intensive efforts led by Western and Persian Gulf Arab capitals to prevent the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Lebanese territories.

The report indicates that the governorates of Nabatieh and South Lebanon are the most affected, followed by the governorate of Mount Lebanon (the southern suburb of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah).

During an interview, Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Secretary General, confirmed that the resistance movement will not allow the Israelis to remain in the occupied areas.
“We are giving the [Lebanese] state the opportunity to work politically to prove to the whole world that Israel does not withdraw through politics but through resistance,” he stated.

His Eminence stressed, “The reconstruction process is an integral part of the reform and rescue process in the country. There is targeting of a sect or groups because of their affiliation with the resistance movement. The government must carefully study how to carry out the reconstruction process in line with the reform and rescue steps to revive the country.”
Sheikh Qassem added, “Sheltering people is a great achievement that we have accomplished ... although this is part of the state’s responsibility.”

The World Bank’s report claimed that the volume of direct damages resulting from the September-October US-led Israeli aggression, which affected physical assets, amounts to $6.8 billion, while economic losses amount to $7.2 billion.

This means that the total losses are $14 billion, noting that a preliminary report by the World Bank had estimated the cost at $8.5 billion (an increase of 65%).

Further, this is without taking into account the value of the compensation paid by Hezbollah in a short period of time, which is worth about $650 million so far, which are donations provided by the Iranian people.

The World Bank’s report estimated that “recovery and reconstruction needs” would reach $11 billion. 8.4 billion must be secured in the period 2025-2027.

It estimated the losses of destroyed housing units at $4.6 billion, expecting that the “housing sector reconstruction needs” will reach $6.3 billion out of $11 billion. The remaining value is for the reconstruction of infrastructure and public service institutions, which is 57% of the total recovery needs.

The report divided the method of paying this amount into 3 stages: In the immediate term in 2025, $1.6 billion should be paid. During 2026 and 2027, $2.4 billion should be paid. From 2028 to 2030, $1.8 billion should be paid.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has decided to brandish its weapon in the south, not against the occupation regime, but against the citizens who took the initiative to restore or rebuild their homes by sending mechanized patrols of the Internal Security Forces whose job is to write up reports against those who started to rebuild their homes!
While the pace of the occupation regime’s attacks is accelerating without any official response, more than 100,000 residents of the border towns find themselves dispersed because they are prevented from returning to their villages.

A well-informed source told the Tehran Times that the reconstruction file – funded locally and abroad – is currently frozen because it is linked to the completion of the demarcation of the land borders with the Israeli occupation entity.

Axios claimed that Tel Aviv, Washington, and Beirut have reached an agreement allowing Israeli forces to maintain control over five positions in Lebanon for “several weeks or months until the Lebanese army stabilizes the situation in southern Lebanon and ensures Hezbollah is no longer a threat.”

“(The) Aoun presidency is a historic opportunity to change the reality in Lebanon for the better,” Axios quoted a U.S. official as saying.