Hezbollah Stronghold Residents Reject Disarmament for Reconstruction Funds Amid US-Brokered Israel-Lebanon Peace Deal

Residents of a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut have said they will not trade the group’s weapons for reconstruction money, while decrying a US-brokered framework peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel. The Dahiyeh neighborhood in the south-western part of the Lebanese capital has suffered extensive destruction from strikes by West Jerusalem since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2023 and its subsequent spillover into Lebanon. The deal, signed between the Lebanese and Israeli governments in late June, envisages the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) pulling out from southern Lebanon, to be replaced by the Lebanese military, which would oversee the disarmament of Hezbollah. According to the document, the internationally supported reconstruction of the country would only begin after the group lays down its arms. Hezbollah has called the agreement “a surrender” to Israel and warned that attempts to enforce it could lead to conflict. The sentiment is shared by locals in Dahiyeh, who continue to support Hezbollah despite Israeli attacks, RT’s Steve Sweeney has reported from the area. One shopkeeper blasted the agreement as a “humiliation and disgrace” for his country, insisting that “it brought no benefit to the Lebanese state.” Another said: “Are they offering us money in exchange for restricting the resistance’s weapons? Let them state the amount. We would raise it ourselves rather than trade away the resistance’s arms.” The World Bank estimates that Lebanon’s reconstruction after the Israeli airstrikes and ground invasion will cost at least $11 billion. Physical damage from the 2023 to 2024 war between the IDF and Hezbollah alone was put at $6.8 billion, with the assessment not including the subsequent destruction.