BINT JBEIL, LEBANON — Along the roadways of southern Lebanon, thousands of banners festoon street lights and utility poles. They feature a distinctive symbol, a red inscription from the center of Iran's flag, protectively swathing Lebanon's iconic green cedar.
The emblem belongs to the Iranian reconstruction organization. Its presence delivers a message that is not lost on critics of Iran's role here, nor supporters who have watched cratered roads filled in, damaged school walls resurrected and life return to some semblance of normalcy over the last year.
Other countries "have reconstructed everything: the schools, the buildings, the roads," said Nazim Khanafer, a 47-year-old building contractor in Ainata, a town ruined in the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah a year ago. It is now being rebuilt with the help of Iran and other countries. "They have paid money to the people, unlike the government."
The reconstruction of Lebanon after last summer's war was meant to strengthen the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured in from U.S.-friendly Persian Gulf countries
Instead, as government officials acknowledge, the rebuilding effort in badly damaged areas of southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley has mostly highlighted the government's weakness.
At stake is control over volatile pieces of real estate, some abutting Israel, that have been key battlegrounds over the last three decades in the proxy wars waged by Iran, Syria and the United States and its allies.
Though the state is distributing most of the donated funds, Iran and Qatar have decided to directly contribute and supervise their aid. Over the last year, these two countries have spent millions of dollars on flashy projects without the government's imprimatur.
In the eyes of many Lebanese, their government has had little role in rebuilding the country.
"There is a feeling that the state is absent from the reconstruction process," said Ali Amine, who has been closely following the rebuilding efforts in the south as an editor for Al Balad, a daily newspaper. "The government has shown no real interest in what happens in the south."
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking Tuesday via giant screens placed in a south Beirut square, declared that his Iranian-backed group had spent $381 million to provide temporary shelter for 25,000 families, restore infrastructure and buildings and revive the economy. He accused the government of slowing down payments of $1 billion it had collected from international donors.
