Hezbollah announces housing aid plan for displaced Lebanese families

The group promises up to $14,000 in Beirut and its southern suburbs and up to $12,000 elsewhere. The programme's overall budget was not disclosed.

Executive Council chairman Ali Damoush presented the plan on October 13. In Beirut and the southern suburbs, $8,000 is earmarked for furniture and $6,000 for rent. Elsewhere, the furniture allocation is unchanged and the rent allowance is $4,000.

The announced conditions cover families whose primary homes were destroyed, assessed as uninhabitable or severely damaged. They also cover people displaced from Israeli-controlled areas or nearby locations. Families owning another home are excluded, as are summer homes and abandoned properties.

Damoush said payments would be split into four instalments over a year. The first would be $3,500 in Beirut and its southern suburbs and $3,000 elsewhere. Assistance would depend on an assessment of property damage.

Reuters previously reported, citing sources, that Hezbollah received $200 million from Iran. The United States disputed that account. Damoush declined to address the dispute or give a total for the new programme. Announcing the plan does not establish that funds have actually reached all eligible families.