Hezbollah cannot buy back Shia support as group promises $14,000 to displaced families

Hezbollah announced financial assistance of up to $14,000 for displaced families in southern Lebanon, but a researcher and a new poll indicate the group has lost significant trust among the Shia community. The poll found 42.1% of Shia respondents expressed disappointment or anger with Hezbollah's leadership, and 67.4% believe the group failed to achieve its war objectives.

Hezbollah announced it will provide up to $14,000 in financial assistance to families whose primary homes were destroyed during this year's war with Israel, but a researcher and a new poll indicate the group has lost significant trust among Lebanon's Shia community. Under the plan presented by Hezbollah Executive Council chairman Ali Damoush, eligible families in Beirut and its southern suburbs will receive $14,000 — $8,000 for furniture and $6,000 for rent. Families elsewhere in Lebanon will receive $12,000. The assistance is not extended to families who lost their homes during the 2006 war. Lieutenant-Colonel (res.) Moran Levavoni, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), told the Post that the rift between Hezbollah and the Shia community widened in 2023 when the group decided to support Gaza at the expense of the local population. A poll by Statistics Lebanon of 800 Shia adults found 42.1% expressed disappointment, anger, or concern over Hezbollah's leadership and conduct. A majority, 67.4%, said Hezbollah did not achieve its war objectives, and 63.3% supported some form of agreement with Israel. The article frames Hezbollah's compensation offer as insufficient to restore its standing, relying on an Israeli researcher and a single poll to support this conclusion.