In heavily damaged Hrat Hreik, an enclave in a southern suburb of Beirut called Dahiyeh, contractors have removed rubble, repaved roads, rebuilt sidewalks and restored electricity and running water.
"We've done this in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program and other donor groups, especially Iran represented through the municipality of Tehran," said Samir Dakkash, head of the local government in Hrat Hreik. "Money was directly paid to contractors, so we don't know how much Iranians spent."
Work to rebuild apartment buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes has also started. Often, even when pro-American donor countries and the Siniora government provide the money, Hezbollah shares the credit. Its reconstruction arm recently persuaded 70% of those who got grants from the government to funnel their cash into a project that will restore or rebuild 198 buildings under the Hezbollah banner. Elaborate plans include green spaces, parking lots and trees imported from Africa.
According to its own accounting, Iran has spent $155 million in Lebanon, about $25 million more than the U.S. government has sent through the U.S. Agency for International Development for reconstruction. Iran says it has rebuilt at least 149 schools, 48 mosques and churches, 10 health clinics, 64 electricity projects and 19 bridges. It continues work on nearly 100 other building and infrastructure projects. It has completed work on 504 roadways, and has 76 underway.
The Lebanese government, Khoshnevis says, simply isn't up to the job.
"The Lebanese state is slow in implementing projects, and when they do the job, the cost is very high," he said.
Beirut has little choice but to accept Tehran's help. It is neither powerful enough to prevent ministries, local officials and individuals from doing business with Iran, nor rich enough to refuse the Islamic Republic's help.
In an e-mail response to questions, Siniora's office said that it couldn't confirm that Iran had done everything it said it had in Lebanon, because of what it said was the Tehran regime's lack of transparency.
Most residents and officials said they understood why it was hard to rebuild quickly. But a year after the war, hard-hit areas such as downtown Bint Jbeil remain little more than piles of rubble and twisted steel. Even those who doubt the ultimate intention of donors such as Iran are reluctant to criticize anyone helping to meet such great need.
"We thank anyone who wants to help us," said Tony Hamra, a 37-year-old grocery store operator in the southern town of Marjayoun, which is inhabited mostly by Christians. "But we aren't thankful if they want to do something that's not ultimately good for our country."
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daragahi@latimes.com
Rafei is a special correspondent and Daragahi a Times staff writer.
