Hezbollah struggles to survive: money runs out, compensation delayed, residents furious

Hezbollah is struggling to survive: money is running out, compensation is delayed, and residents are furious. New testimonies reveal that the organization is finding it difficult to pay compensation promised to residents whose homes were destroyed in the 2024 war, and is focusing Iranian funding on rebuilding its weapons arsenal at the expense of the social aspect.

Hezbollah is in a financial survival struggle, according to new reports and testimonies published by Walla. The organization, which promised compensation to Lebanese residents whose homes were destroyed in the 2024 war, is struggling to meet its commitments. Lina, a resident of the Bekaa Valley, said that the check she received since the war has not yet been cashed, and that she is considering bearing the cost of repairing her home herself. According to a report in the Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan, Hezbollah continues to pay salaries to its activists, ranging between $600 and $700, but has stopped paying some allowances and social services. A source who spoke with the newspaper said that the organization's current focus is on survival, and that funding from Iran is directed mainly to rebuilding the weapons arsenal. The drying up of funding sources, including the Al-Qard al-Hasan institution, gas stations, and money changers, along with the prevention of Iranian planes landing in Beirut and the fall of the Assad regime, have forced Hezbollah and Iran to seek new and more complex ways to transfer money, such as the hawala system. According to a US State Department estimate, Iran transferred about $700 million a year to Hezbollah before the war, and last November the US Treasury Department reported a transfer of about $1 billion that year.