Rendering of PArt of the (New Dahiyeh) ,project called (wa'd) for Reconstruction of the Beirut southern suburb.Project announced thursday May 24th.

http://www.aljazeera.net/mritems/images/2007/5/24/1_694704_1_34.jpg

مواصفات
وشرح الجشي المواصفات والتحسينات التي سيتم الالتزام بها في إعادة الإعمار، ومنها اعتماد نظام الحماية من الزلازل ونظام الإطفاء وجهاز الإنذار لغرف الكهرباء، وتأمين حركة مرور سهلة (منحدرات) لذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة.


وفي تصريحه للجزيرة نت قال الجشي إن السياسة العامة للمشروع ستعتمد على السرعة القصوى في إنجازه حرصاً على عودة الناس إلى مساكنهم وأماكن عملهم، كما ستعتمد على مبدأ الجودة في مواصفات المباني ورعاية السلامة العامة، والالتزام الكامل بالجوانب القانونية واعتماد مبدأ التكامل ومشاركة السكان في آرائهم، إضافة إلى حرص القائمين على المشروع على الابتعاد عن الروتين الإداري والتعقيدات، والعمل بشكل محكم وشفاف، واستخدام أفضل نظم المعلوماتية.

^^ NOT BAD :) :banana:

This could be one of the biggest developments...But there is a problem ..The provious owners have given power of attny to WAAD which is a hzb project to rebuild..The goverment is not acknowledging the legality and refusing to pay out compensation to WAAD instead of tho the owners directly...This is said because the goverment doesnt want to pay or support Hezbollah...they are bilding without any permits and are bypassing normal institutions..

Hizbullah's construction arm to start rebuilding Dahiyeh in June
Organization aims to preserve neighborhood's identity
By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff
Friday, May 25, 2007



BEIRUT: The branch of Hizbullah's construction arm created to oversee the rebuilding of the capital's battered southern suburbs said Thursday it would begin in June to restore the neighborhood to its state prior the Israeli bombardment last summer. A majority of residents in the four municipalities of the Dahiyeh have given the Waad (Promise) project, a subsidiary of Jihad al-Binaa, power of attorney over their properties, allowing the group to collect indemnity payments from the government on their behalf, design an urban planning scheme for the congested district and determine which architects and engineers to award building contracts to.

Waad general manager Hassan Jichi said the LL80 million ($53,000) of government compensation promised to owners of each destroyed apartment unit would not be enough to finance the construction of the 1.2 million square meters of built-up area damaged during war. Hizbullah and the Waad project plan to cover the remaining costs so that residents do not have to pay out of their own pockets, he said, without specifying the size of the gap in payments.

"Since people needed to return to their homes quickly, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held meetings with the owners of 281 properties in need of rebuilding, and came up with two scenarios that honor the social conventions and common memory of Dahiyeh," Jichi said at a news conference held in Beirut Thursday morning.

"I hope that the international donor countries and charities who have already expressed willingness to rebuild will give money to Waad," he said.

Based on the results of a questionnaire distributed to residents, Waad's seven-member advisory committee drafted an urban planning scheme that would allow structures to be rebuilt according to their pre-war dimensions, with the same layout.

All of the new buildings will be earthquake-resistant, contain underground parking lots, a two-door elevator, power generators, fire alarms and facilities for the disabled, Jichi said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

The zoning plan also calls for squares, public gardens and benches, which a Kuwaiti donor has already agreed to fund, he said.

The objective, said architect Jack Khawam, a member of Waad, is "to beautify Dahiyeh, rather than change its identity because we want people to recognize their homes."

Indeed the Waad project has its own rebuilding philosophy, a Waad engineer told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

"The people who live there wanted to go back to the same place they lived before, they want the same neighbors, the shops under their homes, everything," he said in a phone interview after the news conference.

"Some people did not even want problems in their homes to be addressed. One family had a problem with their balcony and they did not want to fix it. People insisted on having the same number of rooms and bathrooms, but we did make buildings more colorful."

Rahis Fayyad, a vocal critic of Solidere and a member of the Waad advisory panel, said residents wanted to retain the character of the Dahiyeh and avoid mimicking Solidere by increasing the amount of commercial space and building high-rises.

The government has been slow to deliver compensation, said Jichi. However, "the idea

is that they should finance the rebuilding."

Other private and government donors have also pledged to contribute money and building materials, he said, naming "Gulf states, Syria and Iran" and "even some European donors and Lebanese Christians."

No contractors have been commissioned yet, and the panel is in the final stages of drafting the qualifications for companies to bid. But there will be no open tendering process, the source said.

"They know we are rebuilding so they can come and submit a bid if they want," he said of regarding the manner in which contractors could participate.

"The people who live there wanted to go back to the same place they lived before, they want the same neighbors, the shops under their homes, everything," he said in a phone interview after the news conference.

"Some people did not even want problems in their homes to be addressed. One family had a problem with their balcony and they did not want to fix it. People insisted on having the same number of rooms and bathrooms, but we did make buildings more colorful."



^^ It's unfortunate that they will just rebuild the same old buildings and not even fix imperfections.

nothen great .... i guess same old

I am just wondering, will they widen the streets?

it says the Buildings will be earthquake resistant.....how dose that work

I am just wondering, will they widen the streets?


Yes,and more green spaces.

how do you know that ^^ knowing them its going to be dull and gray ( sorry for the negativty )

There was a plan called Ellisar for this area..Hairi was modelling it on Solidere...which would havew the same structure and floated on the bourse..BUt HZ fought againts it because it would cyhange the face of the area and probably take there support away..so people can say they are left to live in bad conditions and without any govt help..

People have to remember this area was built during the civil war with no planning even some ownership of the land is in question ...people just built. Another point is that this is located next to the airport and must conform to height restrictions etc...The one positive thing is everyone is going to get a brandnew aprt and not have to buy it froma developer (like solidere) the people are low income..Now wouldnt it be interesting if they signed all there rights away and Hezb becomes the largets landlords in the country,..not transferring the title to them

^^ arint the Homes near the Airport were Built Illgealy also

how do you know that ^^ knowing them its going to be dull and gray ( sorry for the negativty )

Jayme001, why are you so offencive and negative towards these people? Aren't they as Lebanese as you are? They are shi3a, so what? They are poor, so the don't they deserve a better life? As long as there are people like you who think like you, I can see the Lebanese future ending with a date like April 13 1974. I am sorry but everyone- Shi3as, Sunnis, Druze, Maruni, Orthodox, Catholics- all of them are LEBANESE, all of them deserve LEBANON.
Li annu Lebnen huwwe la ilna- illebnaniyeen!
Regards

no im not, being offenive , im just saying that the people are going to rebuild that area , is just going to make it the same , maybe a small improvments, but dont think that waad company is suitable

Btw i didnt be nasty to any group in Lebanon

link him to that "when will be become lebanese" tv comercial! :P

lets say hezbollah keep building without permits, would the lebanese government then have the right to say "oh hey we need to move you and rebuild", hezbollah would NEVER allow this! without causing trouble anyway.

What i dont understand is how vcan they sign over there deeds when allot of the buildings are illegal..They dont have legal deeds..Allot of the land was owned by the goverment

What i dont understand is how vcan they sign over there deeds when allot of the buildings are illegal..They dont have legal deeds..Allot of the land was owned by the goverment

That's true. HA should pay the government :bash: . Can you imagine that?

the gov't should act NOW and not let hizballa rebuild the Dahiye, the only way to regain control of that area is if the gov't rebuilds it

If they Block them it will turn very bloody..and the people would be even more alientated against the goverment..They should tell HZ that they will give them a 50-99 year lease on the land to build..and the apt would be allowed to be used for the same period.

Putting Haret Hreik back together again


International and Lebanese architecture and design experts square off with Hezbollah’s plans to rebuild the Dahiyeh

Hanin Ghaddar, NOW Staff , June 27, 2007



http://www.nowlebanon.com/ContentPictures/062607105645-leader%202.jpg
Lebanese men salvage some of their belonging from the wreckage of their flatted apartment in Haret Hreik, south of Beirut, 26 August 2006. (AFP PHOTO/ANWAR AMRO)


Since the late 1980s, Hezbollah has established itself as the most powerful party in the Dahiyeh. With NGOs, think-tanks, and a police force of its own, Hezbollah controls all of the political and planning decisions of the “southern suburbs,” which are home to around 500,000 people, almost one-third of Beirut’s population. Despite its large number of residents, however, the Dahiyeh has always been somewhat isolated from much of Beirut – a problem many would like to see remedied through better urban planning as the district is rebuilt.

During the 2006 summer war, Haret Hreik – the .08 square mile heart of the Dahiyeh – was mostly reduced to rubble. Some 265 residential, commercial, and office buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, 3,119 housing units and 1,610 commercial units were demolished, and over 20,000 residents lost their homes, according to the Haret Hreik-Reconstruction Unit report, recently published by the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut.

Map: Analysis: Land Use Before Summer 2006

Today, the buildings of Haret Hreik are swathed in huge banners, including one showing a graphic of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah raising his hand over the text, “It’s going to come back more beautiful than it was. That’s a promise from the honest Secretary-General.”

The idea of making the Dahiyeh a better place to live occurred to others as well. In the aftermath of the summer war, the AUB Reconstruction Unit was formed to propose alternative visions for the reconstruction of Haret Hreik. Their report, entitled “The Reconstruction of Haret Hreik: Design Options for Improving the Livability of the Neighborhood” treated Haret Hreik as though it were any other residential neighborhood in the capital – an integral part of Beirut rather than the privileged territory of one party. But despite the report’s various suggestions for improving the livability of the neighborhood and Hezbollah’s promises of a new, more beautiful Dahiyeh, it seems that security concerns and greater questions of the balance of power between Lebanese factions have prompted the party to sacrifice much of Haret Hreik’s potential in order to preserve its social and political hegemony over southern Beirut.

For the reconstruction project, Hezbollah has created a brand-new foundation – Al-Waad Al-Sadiq. Al-Waad Al-Sadiq means “the faithful promise,” and was also the name for the Hezbollah kidnapping operation last July which sparked the summer war. Waad, as an organization, is closely linked to the reconstruction arm of Hezbollah’s “Jihad al-Bina,” an NGO that has long assisted residents of the South and the Dahiyeh in rebuilding after Israeli aggressions. The foundation manages construction and oversees subcontracting jobs in southern suburbs.

Engineer Hassan Said Jeshi, the general director of Waad, told NOW Lebanon that their plan is first and foremost concerned with preserving the social fabric of the area. “The reconstruction process,” he said, “is therefore trying to keep the neighborhood as it was, without changing the location of the buildings.” But, he said, the quality of the buildings will be better. According to the plan, there will be modernized building exteriors, additional underground parking, modernized kitchens, new green spaces and playgrounds.


http://www.nowlebanon.com/Library/Images/Uploaded%20Images/inside%20pic.jpg


Directly after the war, Waad provided the residents with two choices: to either (1) rebuild their own apartments or (2) let Hezbollah assume responsibility for the reconstruction. “And the vast majority of the residents decided to deliver the reconstruction responsibility to Waad, knowing that they could trust us with their property,” said Jeshi. Residents and owners, then, granted Hezbollah the power of attorney over their property, which included handing over government compensation payments. And where compensation payments weren’t enough, Hezbollah, which receives most of its funding from Iran, has pledged to cover the difference.

Nonetheless, there is a sense that Hezbollah may be missing a tremendous opportunity by dismissing the report’s recommendations and plans. The report was the result of a four-day design conference held at AUB in January, attended by prominent architects, urban planners and scholars. Though they were unsuccessful in attempts to engage local stakeholders in a public debate about the reconstruction of Haret Hreik, they decided to publish the report anyway – hoping their work would provoke the debate regardless. The report contains three sets of maps showing existing conditions, analyzing neighborhood patterns, and suggesting interventions in reconstruction. The primary concern of the task team was to brainstorm alternatives for rebuilding the area – paying special attention to improving the public domain, addressing issues of public space, transportation and traffic, and population density.

According to Mona Fawwaz, the AUB Reconstruction Team’s leader, the target audience of the report was the public realm. “The state paid compensations to the private sector, while the communal space is discredited in the Waad proposal,” she said. In addition, so many families have signed everything over to Waad that Hezbollah will effectively have complete control over the reconstruction process in the Dahiyeh. And this, many people fear, means that livability and an increased interconnectivity with Beirut proper might be sacrificed for the sake of Hezbollah’s internal security.

In the end, the AUB Reconstruction Team’s concerns were simply not the same as Hezbollah’s. Jeshi told NOW Lebanon that although the AUB Reconstruction Unit’s suggestions were noteworthy, Waad cannot take them into consideration because it takes too much time to implement them. “They [AUB] want to merge properties and create public spaces that would require relocating buildings and people. All this will take time due to bureaucratic and legal processes, and we cannot afford to lose time on that. Many people are waiting to get back to their homes, and this is our first priority.”

The AUB report, however, does seem to understand and appreciate the time constraints of rebuilding, which is why, according to its editors, it focuses on three types of intervention in the public domain: (1) modifying traffic patterns by redirecting through-traffic outside the neighborhood, (2) creating a network of open and green spaces and (3) introducing a variety of parking alternatives. The portion of the report that deals with the private domain suggests alternating the massing of buildings with open areas in order to improve ventilation and lighting, and increase parking and public space in the Dahiyeh.

Map: Intervention: Proposed Traffic Scheme

Although these suggestions would take more time and energy than Waad’s approach, (Marwan Ghandour, one of the report editors and an architect at Bawader Architects, thinks that planning authorities, including Hezbollah, usually do not like to leave things unfinished but would like to have full control over the results, consequently they would like to have a full scheme that includes the public and private sector. “We did not adopt such an approach since we believe that the private domain should only be overseen by the planning authority, with minimal guidelines, while residents should be encouraged to formulate project groups together with developers and architects to reconstruct their buildings,” he added.)

In the end, the residents of Haret Hreik stand to be the primary victims of Hezbollah’s policy. However, all of Lebanon will suffer as well. There is a growing awareness that more must be done to integrate the Shia into the rest of Lebanese society. It is a process which starts with actions like paving roads in the South, rebuilding neighborhoods and towns devastated in last summer’s war, and funding schools. The Lebanese government must prove that it can function like a state, so that Hezbollah doesn’t have to. On the other hand, Hezbollah is often accused of deliberately keeping the Shia isolated. In order to genuinely serve its constituents, the party needs to learn when to step back and let others do their job.

Here u can see some pics of Dahia neighbourhood in the future
http://news.walla.co.il/?w=/3850/1159964

^^ Thanks for this Zohar, it appears now this project is u/c!

Doesnt the government have to approve this first?!

Doesnt the government have to approve this first?!

Since when does Hezbollah listen to the government?

Since when does Hezbollah listen to the government?

Well said! :bash:

Actualy arround 24 bldg are U/C.

WAAD OFICIAL SITE: www.waad-rebuild.com

got to say they have nice stuff going on there.
hopefully all of south Beirut will become this one day, to bad the site is in arabic

dahia 3ala alyah...........cant u agree on anything ? :ohno:

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^^ I am beginning to think they are deliberately blocking the progress of Beirut Gate and the Landmark projects!

dahia 3ala alyah...........cant u agree on anything ?


It's hard for non-Lebanese to see things the way we do. We have a government and they should be in charge - not Iran!

got to say they have nice stuff going on there.
hopefully all of south Beirut will become this one day, to bad the site is in arabic

Yes the area will improve dramatically with these new projects,
but the money is coming from Iran and not going through the government
but rather directly to Hizballah so that they can maintain dominance over the people
by making them feel indebted to them and making them feel that the government doesnt care.


Here are some pics from the Waad website:

http://www.waad-rebuild.com/Images/Gallery/IMG110.jpg

http://www.waad-rebuild.com/Images/Gallery/IMG94.jpg

http://www.waad-rebuild.com/Images/Gallery/IMG103.jpg

Well those tents are virtually empty in the day...The owners of the plots should have them removed themselves,build fences, and hire security so they cant say the goverment is doing it..then the reply would be.."Well its there land they have the right". Also i agree with Libano...look what they are doing establishing there own telephone network from the south to the BCD (no doubt to give commands and instructions)...and the buying up of land to connect the south to the bekaa..i think something is strangely afoot...this is very serious and should be ended imediatly! After all this they can easily declare there own state..and they have 20k rockets to defend it

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There afraid of moving againts them...however this is a repeat of history..The failure to act led to the civil war etc..they were caught up in appeasing the arabs by not taking the desions to prevent the Palestinians from launching attacks againts Israel...as such civil war was started and an israeli invasion to force them out...these opwners are right to not construct in a volatile situation ..however they can take measures to safe gurad there properties..give them notice to leave and if not bring in the bulldozers...

We need to be a strong country and make our own decisions and not try to appease others by sacrificing ourselves..yalla end the phone network..shut off there electricity if they dont pay there bills.. threaten to block construction unless all permits are in place (btw they signed over all there rights and gave ownership of all the land to HZ! HA!)..act like any other state...

It's hard for non-Lebanese to see things the way we do. We have a government and they should be in charge - not Iran!

amin to that ...........but these are only few buildings ....or is there more?

^^ The renders are only of one section, but the whole Dayhieh district is a large area with hundreds of buildings.

english version of what Zohar posted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcKyVjrsFAw

What about the security square etc..I dont think they moved

^^^ There's going to be a highway instead of the security square, but i'm sure there's still going to be tunnels etc. underground

what dose security square look like ?

Yea can anyone pull it up on google earth and post it?

Hizbullah presses ahead with bid to rebuild all that Israel's bombs destroyed


Waad project director promises to make southern suburbs better than before the war

By Agence France Presse (AFP)




Nayla Razzouk

Agence France Press


BEIRUT: Watched over by guards, workers lay concrete blocks for brand new housing to replace Hizbullah's former command quarters, destroyed by Israeli air strikes last year in Beirut's southern suburbs. A year after the devastating summer 2006 war with Israel, Hizbullah's bastion has been turned into a vast construction site, criss-crossed by trucks carrying cement.

Visitors and even contractors are escorted to the building sites by Hizbullah's "Indibat" (discipline) guards, wearing fatigues and brown boots.

The guards, communicating with walkie-talkies, wear caps that say waad, meaning "pledge" in Arabic. Waad is a project of Hizbullah's reconstruction arm, Jihad al-Binaa (Construction Campaign), to rebuild the teeming southern suburbs of Beirut where Israeli strikes destroyed or badly damaged nearly 300 multi-story buildings

The project was named after the "truthful pledge," the name given by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to the capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006, in order to secure a prisoners' swap.

Israel responded the same day with a massive assault, after which Nasrallah declared that his guerrillas' fierce resistance to the 34-day offensive was a "divine victory" over the Jewish state's vaunted army.

"Waad is rebuilding 196 destroyed buildings, while the owners of 68 other destroyed buildings have decided to rebuild them themselves," Waad director general Hassan Jashi said.
"We chose 42 of the country's best firms to carry out the reconstruction works. Works have already started in 75 buildings," he added.

"Works should be complete by early 2009," Jashi said at his office, watching security camera footage of offices in the building and the street on a television screen.

Waad spokesman Maher Assi added that "there will not be security perimeters anymore" in the southern suburbs where Hizbullah once kept certain areas off-limits to government forces despite criticism from political rivals

"We don't need security perimeters, we are all over the place now in Lebanon," he said.

Jashi said the southern suburbs - buildings of often shoddy construction towering over a labyrinth of narrow roads - will experience a major face-lift.

"We plan to have larger roads, lined with trees. We even bought lands to build public gardens, with underground parking lots," he said. "The buildings will be built to resist earthquakes and reduce noise."

Hizbullah has granted families that lost property in the Israeli onslaught about $10,000 each. The party has been evasive about the source of its funding but Iran is generally viewed as its main financial backer.

As for the Lebanese government, Sanaa al-Jack, spokeswoman for its reconstruction projects, said "the project costs LL340 billion, of which we have so far paid 141.34 billion pounds." The government has granted citizens whose units had been completely destroyed about $53,000. Compensation for damaged property is assessed on a case-by-case basis.

"The process has been slow because originally many people did not have proper legal documents for their properties which were built illegally, and some other people have lost their documents during the war," she said.

The government has only granted the checks to property owners in person, as it did not agree to give a party - namely Hizbullah - the compensation on their behalf. Many inhabitants of the southern suburbs were already refugees from South Lebanon who built their homes during the Civil War - when obtaining building permits from a collapsed central government was rare.

Waad director Jashi said "the ruling coalition is just creating hurdles because they think that if works are slowed down, people will be angry at Hizbullah. But it is the opposite that is happening."

Jashi also said the government was providing most of the funds necessary for the suburbs' rebuilding through assistance granted by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, both of which are also funding similar rebuilding projects in southern Lebanon.

"There are other smaller donors, mostly from the private sector, but they do not like to be identified because [US President George W.)] Bush keeps Hizbullah on his terrorism list," he said.

Iran has financed the rebuilding of several bridges in the surburbs, in addition to the restoration of a Maronite Catholic church also damaged by the Israeli strikes.

Project engineer Marwan Gharios, a Christian from Jbeil, works for a company that was entrusted with the reconstruction of 33 buildings in the southern suburbs.

"I have no problems and we are all working together in harmony, Christians and Muslims," he said. "And this is a good job opportunity for me, that allows me to earn a decent living for me and my family while staying in Lebanon despite the economic crisis," added Gharios, who had been contemplating a job offer in Dubai.

Gharios was standing at the edge of a deep site where workers were laying the foundations of a building to replace the once-heavily guarded Hizbullah secretariat general in the Haret Hreik neighborhood.

"The US has destroyed and Jihad al-Binaa is rebuilding," read a giant banner at the site.

Mohammad Shreif, an employee at the Central Bank, said he was living in an apartment which he had bought with a loan in Haret Hreik.

"I am living in debt," he said, on top of undergoing "three heart operations since the war." Shreif's house was also bombed by Israel in 1982.

"But this time around we are getting compensation and we are keeping our heads high," he said. "We lost our homes, but Israel lost the war."

source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=85204#

Militia rebuilds Beirut district in own image
By W. Thomas Smith Jr
October 10, 2007


BEIRUT - Here in Al Dahiyeh, an impoverished Shi'ite district in southwestern Beirut, Hezbollah militia-men are reconstructing buildings destroyed by the Israeli air force during the summer war last year in Lebanon. This time, however, they are rebuilding homes and shops in much the same way they had constructed their prewar villages in areas in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

"Hezbollah is rebuilding underground positions [inside the city of Beirut] from which they can store weapons and defend and attack whomever they choose," said Toni Nissi, head of the International Lebanese Committee for U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, a pro-democracy United Nations-affiliated nongovernmental organization (NGO) that frequently monitors activities in Al Dahiyeh. "UNSCR 1559 specifically calls for the disarming of the militias."

But Hezbollah, deemed a "resistance force" — not a "militia" — in many circles here in Lebanon, has received a pass from the government.

One of four Hezbollah-controlled "security zones" not patrolled by the Lebanese police or the army, Al Dahiyeh is a mixed commercial-residential district with a high population density, and lots of buildings covering multiple blocks crisscrossed by many narrow streets and alleyways. The specific Al-Dahiyeh zone in Beirut is known as a "security square," and its inhabitants are heavily armed.

"In the squares, they have weapons," said Gen. Michel Sleiman, commander in chief of the Lebanese armed forces. "But they have no authority to conduct military activities."

Nationwide, the four Hezbollah zones do not include the many Palestinian refugee camps such as Nahr al-Bared on Lebanon's northern coast near Tripoli. There, Lebanese troops recently fought a fierce three-month battle against al Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam. The Lebanese army crushed the Fatah Islam terrorists, but not before losing 168 soldiers.

Though not cut from the same cloth, Fatah Islam and Hezbollah have had similar goals: primarily to spread fear throughout the country and to prevent Lebanon from freely electing a president.

Downtown between the parliament and government building, Hezbollah has set up a sprawling "tent city" in defiance of the electoral process, and many Lebanese parliamentarians are holed up in the nearby Phoenicia Hotel under heavy security.

Friday evening, Hezbollah militiamen were firing AK-47 assault rifles from their positions in Al Dahiyeh. Automatic weapons fire crackled and red and white tracers arced into the sky for miles in every direction.

The militiamen were firing in celebration of Jerusalem Day, an anti-Israel day recognized on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Inside Al Dahiyeh, Hezbollah militiamen dressed in khaki uniforms and carrying Kalashnikovs freely roam the streets. Their lookouts, dressed in civilian clothes and carrying walkie-talkies, are positioned at intersections and riding throughout the district on motor scooters.

Construction continues, contracted through the Lebanese government with Hezbollah-owned Wa'ad, a company based in Lebanon. The UNSCR 1559 committee officials contend that Wa'ad was established as a branch of Iranian-based Jihad Al-Bina, a company on the U.S. terrorist watch list.

Wa'ad — translated "the promise" — is rebuilding homes and commercial buildings in Al Dahiyeh with hidden "battle corridors" linked point by point above and below the ground with other buildings and adjacent neighborhoods. The construction includes subterranean command posts, and hollow walls capable of concealing large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition, similar to tunnels and hiding places Israeli soldiers discovered in the south during their offensive last year against Hezbollah.

Henry Dauod, a security consultant with the 1559 committee and a former combat infantryman in the Lebanese army, said there are rockets and light and heavy machine guns in Al Dahiyeh.

"We know for a fact Hezbollah has Katyusha rockets in Dahiyeh right now," said Mr. Daoud. "Also, mortars, AK-47s, RPK light machine guns, Doshka machine guns, [rocket-propelled grenades] and American M-16s."

U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 — a postwar resolution aimed at implementing UNSCR 1559 — directs that "all armed groups in Lebanon" be disarmed "so that, pursuant to the Lebanese Cabinet decision of 27 July 2006, there will be no weapons or authority in Lebanon other than that of the Lebanese state."

The resolution clearly is not being implemented at Al Dahiyeh.

^^Great...this will make Beirut a bigger target for Israel...:ohno:

I'm so glad that Iran, lacking money to full provide for its own citizens, is shelling out hundreds of millions of dollars to fund Hezbollah's reconstruction of the money.

Why can't the Lebanese gov't do this instead? Haven't they learned that ignoring the Shias drives them toward Hezbollah? Israel withdrew in 2000; they're now only a liability. If the central gov't can take care of Shias, then there will be no need for Hezbollah.

^^ The government is doing the best it can..
If it wasn't for the "moderate Lebanese" in the government Lebanon would have been a replica of Gaza by now

The government is doing the best it can

Do you really think so?

^^ I believe so

well,,keep in mind we r not a rich country, also the government is not allowed to do whatever it wants in all regions ;)

Thats the sad part ^^ The goverment should do what ever they like in all parts of the country.

But they can't because of Hezbollah. They can't even enter the southern suburbs to stop illegal construction or disconnect illegal power connections without a huge riot starting and the airport road being blocked.

Hezbollah spends millions to rebuild Beirut stronghold

By Rita Daou

BEIRUT, Mar 23, 2009 (AFP) - Salam Hassoun is thrilled by the new flat Hezbollah has built for her to replace the one Israeli bombs destroyed during the 2006 summer war on the Lebanese Shiite movement.

The war ravaged Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold that includes the teeming neighbourhood of Haret Hreik, where a mammoth Hezbollah-orchestrated reconstruction drive is underway.

The deafening explosions of Israeli bombs have been replaced by the grinding cacophony of earth-movers and cement mixers contracted to rebuild 241 of the 282 buildings destroyed in the bombing.

The project, dubbed Waad (pledge in Arabic), has won the heart of Hassoun but has also raised a storm of political dust between Hezbollah and the government, whose authority in the southern suburbs has lagged for decades.

"I used to dream of an apartment where the living room was separated from the dining area and where the kitchen would be much bigger, and Waad gave me that," Hassoun told AFP during a Hezbollah-organised tour of Haret Hreik.

"May God protect (Hezbollah chief Hassan) Nasrallah. He has kept his promise," she said from her ninth-storey flat in one of several spanking new towers.

Project director Hassan Jechi told AFP 400 million dollars have been allocated to transform the southern suburbs into a modern, residential area.

In Haret Hreik's so-called "security area", where Nasrallah once lived and Hezbollah had its headquarters and which became "ground zero" in Israel's onslaught, reconstruction is now at its zenith.

Jechi said Hezbollah institutions will move out of the area, where developers "will only put residential buildings and a public park to give residents a breathing space."

Waad has adopted modern criteria to build earthquake-proof apartment blocs, widen streets and pavements in this once-congested area and put parking lots and artesian wells where there were none.

"The war damaged 1,200 buildings and destroyed 282 others," said Jechi, adding that in addition to the 241 buildings Waad is rebuilding, Hezbollah association Jihad For Reconstruction is restoring 951 others.

People have already moved into 20 buildings and the entire project should be completed within 18 months, he added.

Jechi and Hezbollah are evasive when it comes to revealing where they are getting the funds to carry out this massive project, amid wide speculation that Iran is Hezbollah's main financial backer.

"There are donations from Arab countries (which are given through the government), material assistance given through Waad while the rest is footed by Jihad For Reconstruction," Jechi said.

Both Waad and Jihad For Reconstruction are on a US list of "terrorist" organisations.

Oil-rich Gulf countries pledged millions of dollars for the reconstruction of Lebanon after the 2006 war.

The donations are disbursed by the Western-backed government, which has had strained ties with Hezbollah, primarily over its refusal to give up its formidable arsenal.

The parliamentary majority says Hezbollah's arms undermine the authority of the state, but the group refuses to disarm, arguing that its weapons and militia are essential to defend the country against Israel.

Jechi complained that the government was only providing 30 percent of the 400 million dollars needed by Waad to rebuild the southern suburbs, which Hezbollah detractors consider a state-within-a-state.

The government's contribution "is slow and insufficient," he said.

But Fadi Aramouni, who heads the state-run Central Fund for the Displaced says "the government did not promise to rebuild (the suburbs) but pledged to give compensation."

According to him, the government has so far disbursed 100 million dollars in compensation and is expected to give an equal amount.

Aramouni dismissed Jechi's criticism, adding the claim that Hezbollah had embarked in a major reconstruction drive that need more funds than those pledged by the government.

"Hezbollah has adopted a costly plan while the government is providing funds to restore buildings to what they were before the war," he said.

Analaysts say the reconstruction drive has triggered new rivalries between Hezbollah and the authorities and is bolstering the popularity of the Shiite militant group.

"Hezbollah will certainly benefit from this reconstruction project because it is cementing the loyalty of the people," said Ahmad Baalbaki, a professor of sociology.

In contrast, for decades the government neglected the development of the southern suburbs, and Hezbollah stepped in to fill the void.

"Before Hezbollah, in the 1980s, even in the 1970s, the southern suburbs was like a jungle. Where was, then, the authority of the state," he asked.

rd/hkb/al/rl

© Copyright AFP 2009.

I don't thnk its 100% fair to blame the goverment...there was no state in the 70's and 80's

^^Hezbollah isn't giving the government a chance to get engaged in the southern suburbs.

Rafic Hariri and his government had a redevelopment project called Elyssar to redevelop the southern suburbs, but it never progressed because Hezbollah and Amal did not allow the government to intervene:
http://www.elyssar.com/

They complain about the lack of no state authority, but they are the ones that are preventing the state from exercising its authority there.

^^ at least they're doing something the governments not ..and that is rebuilding peoples homes ..regardless of who they blame or what they do you have to give them some credit for doing that ..

^^Hezbollah isn't giving the government a chance to get engaged in the southern suburbs.

Rafic Hariri and his government had a redevelopment project called Elyssar to redevelop the southern suburbs, but it never progressed because Hezbollah and Amal did not allow the government to intervene:
http://www.elyssar.com/

They complain about the lack of no state authority, but they are the ones that are preventing the state from exercising its authority there.

From their website:

The Elyssar project area forms an integral part of Greater Beirut. Situated around 3.5 kms south of the Beirut Central District, it is well placed in relation to major planned highways and other developments in the Metropolitan area.

The project area extends over an area of around 586 hectares (ha) from Summerland and Sports City in the North to the boundary of Beirut International Airport in the South. From the East it is bounded by Airport road and from the West by the Mediterranean Sea. Its existing population has been estimated at around 130,000 in 1995.

Included in the project area are the localities of Jnah, Hay Al Zahra, Sabra-Chatila, Bir Hassan, Horch al Katil, Ouzai, Al Maramel, and Raml Al-Aali.

Wich excludes the "Hezbollah area" of Southern Beirut.

^^ Yes, but the mentioned areas are still considered Hizballah-Amal neighborhoods. Remember the Ouzai highway protest that stopped the contruction? Now the highway just stops at the "Marriot" area and continues at the airport. This was because Hizballah organized a protest that blocked construction all so they can keep forcing people to drive through their slum hoping it will keep local shops in business.

Oh please don't start that again. We were talking aabout areas that got destroyed in the 2006 war, and wich is not included in the Elyssar project. Besides, Ouzai isn't a hezbollah area, you are totally wrong. And Hz isn't the one who organisez the protests. And believe me, if they want to destroy those slums, wich are not part of the "Hz area", they can just bring bulldozers and start detsroying, since they are illegal anyway.

Theyre getting help and rejecting it, when theres a lot of places around the country that would gladly take it, and and probably need it as much.

Resurrecting the Dahieh



By Nathanael Massey on May 05, 2010

Hezbollah's approach to urban development


Over the course of July and August 2006, Israeli air strikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburb of Haret Hreik, pulverizing infrastructure and forcing many of the quarter’s residents to flee.

Four years later the rubble has been cleared, clusters of new structures dot the landscape and life has returned, albeit to a soundtrack of seemingly ceaseless construction.

The architects behind this effort are not shy about asserting that the resurrection of this section of the Dahieh has been swift and efficient.

“In the beginning, we asked the people of the Dahieh who they wanted to rebuild for them,” said Hassan Jeshi, chief executive officer of the Waad reconstruction project. “At the time 70 percent opted for us. By the time we had completed our preparations and established the project as a viable entity, the 30 percent who abstained had decreased to 3 percent.”

The project’s recipe for success: a massive bankroll, timely delivery and an open channel for public input. Waad — meaning ‘promise’ — was launched in mid-2007 under the authority of Jihad al Binaa, the construction arm of Hezbollah.

Since then, Waad, a non-profit organization, has rebuilt 95 of the 245 buildings destroyed during the Israeli bombardment, with the remainder currently in the later stages of construction. Another 200 completely new buildings are slated for completion by the end of 2010. By Waad’s estimation, the reconstruction is roughly 64 percent complete, and the project aims to finish its work by mid-2011.

To say that Waad restored the Dahieh to its former glory would be overly romantic. The suburb is crowded and chaotic; with 800,000 residents, according to Waad, it is home to just under a quarter of Lebanon’s population and boasts little infrastructure beyond the basic amenities of housing, commercial centers and basic public services.

Yet it has resuscitated the area, and in a country where the urban aesthetics change lot by lot, the project has consciously created a cohesive, overarching identity within the scope of its work.

“When we first started planning, we wanted to make major changes, move buildings, create parks,” said Jeshi. “But the people refused — they wanted to return to their neighborhoods as they were.”

Instead, the project took a subtler approach to urban planning, planting trees, adding subterranean parking lots and standardizing the facades of the reconstructed buildings, which feature double walls for noise reduction and energy conservation, earthquake resistant architecture and safety features such as fire suppressants and electrical grounding.

“These things did not exist in the Dahieh before,” said Jeshi. “In most of the country they still do not exist.”

Waad comprises architects, designers, academics, local authorities and members of the public. Members from these groups work as a consultative body overseeing the reconstruction, and were initially responsible for conceiving a set of guidelines — detailing safety specifications, aesthetic considerations and improvements to the overall area.

Accordingly, contractors submit all plans to the committee for review before they are passed to Waad’s own architects for final approval.

The Dahieh reconstruction project is billed at $400 million. The Lebanese government is responsible for roughly 30 percent of that sum, $180 million, but has so far only delivered 60 percent of its promised compensation, according to Waad. Jihad al Binaa has picked up the rest of the bill.

“The reconstruction is an answer to [the Israeli] challenge,” said Jeshi. “It exists to improve the resisting soul within the people, so that they will be with the Resistance more – without owing favors to anybody, but with their dignity and their heads held high.”

Real Estate



A house and a farm



By Executive staff on May 05, 2010

Kuwaiti government hands over houses in the southern suburbs of Beirut and plans farm in North
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) recently handed over eight newly constructed buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, as part of its contribution to the reconstitution of the capital after the July 2006 war, reported Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). Five more buildings are yet to be handed over as part of the $22 million project. Meanwhile, Zakat House Kuwait, a governmental organization, launched an initiative to build a $300,000 livestock farm in the village of Al Sammouniya in northern Lebanon, under sponsorship of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Justice, Awqaf (endowments) and Islamic Affairs. The project will be built in coordination with the Lebanese Alms House for Orphan Care. The farm will be constructed on a 40,000 square meter plot of land and would accommodate 200 head of cattle. Its proceeds will be used for helping orphans, widows and the poor, reported KUNA.