The Iranians Ppl are not happy with help for Hizbullah

[Rasputin]

Political science student Mahmoud Erfani believes his government has no choice but to support Hizbullah. Otherwise, he says, "we would have to fight Israel inside Iran." But unemployed chemist Samira Izadi would rather see the money go to create jobs at home.

Newspapers and TV here closely followed the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, mostly with strong support for the Lebanese Shiite movement that the government of Iran helped create in the 1980s.

But among ordinary Iranians, the opinions have been more complex at a time when their country faces intense international pressure over both its links to Hizbullah and its disputed nuclear program.

"If Lebanon was the first and the only case of concern, I would share my pocket money with them," said taxi driver Rasoul Hosseini, interviewed recently. "But for the last 27 years, every time the government finds an international issue, it demands people contribute. Sometimes they raise funds for Palestine, sometimes for Bosnia, sometimes for Lebanon.

"I'm fed up with these endless demands," Hosseini said.

Government-sanctioned rallies in support of Hezbollah were held nearly every day during the conflict in Lebanon. But most attracted only a few thousand people - except for those held after Friday prayer services, which drew more substantial crowds.

For its part, Iran's cleric-led government has repeatedly denied that it still provides money, weapons and training to Hezbollah.

"Hizbullah is a legitimate body in Lebanon," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said recently. "They have their own economic resources and popular support there."

That position was echoed by Hizbullah's representative in Teheran, Abdullah Safieddin, who insisted his group does not need support from Iran or any other country.

"We are independent and do not need anybody's weapons and military training. Our relation with Iran is just a friendly relation," said Safieddin. "Our relation with Iran is like Lebanese Christians with the Vatican. It is a spiritual relation because our religious leader is in Iran."

Overall, the nature and extent of Iran's ties to the Lebanese guerrilla movement stir nearly as much debate and emotion in Teheran as in Western and Arab capitals. Many Iranians themselves don't believe their government's denial of support for Hezbollah.

In addition to whatever the government gives, Iranians also are encouraged to contribute to fund-raising drives to help Lebanese who suffered through the 34-day war. Iran's Red Crescent and some non-governmental organizations have been soliciting donations, setting up bank accounts where Iranians can send contributions.

Some ordinary Iranians here do clearly take pride in Iran's role backing fellow Shiite Muslims in Lebanon and elsewhere.

"Our religion has told us to support oppressed people anywhere," said Hamid Dehaghi, a young Muslim cleric. "We are just doing our religious task. Our government is a religious government so it has to follow principles of the religion."

Erfani, the political science student, thinks that if the government is funding Hezbollah, it's money well spent considering what he - and many other Iranians - see as a threat from Israel and America.

"If we don't support them, then we would have to fight Israel inside Iran. Hezbollah was the bravest part of the Islamic world, which defused the West's plots," Erfan said.

And Layla Zand, who suspects the government is bankrolling Hezbollah, believes it needs to keep issuing denials to protect the country from U.S. and Israeli pressure.

"I think the government intentionally does not announce its support to Hezbollah because it could cause trouble for Iran," the 19-year-old student said.

But other Iranians consider their government's support for Hizbullah - as well as for other Islamic causes - a financial burden. They wish more of the nation's treasure would stay at home.

"The government should spend money to create job opportunities in Iran and not in Lebanon," said Izadi, who holds a chemistry degree but can't find work.

"I feel sympathy for the Lebanese but at the end of the night, would I put my head on the pillow without eating?" he asks.

Denials aside, there is little question where official sympathies lie.

Nearly all Iranian newspapers have praised Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, for their "brave resistance."

The Teheran city government has installed hundreds of large posters of Nasrallah along the streets of the capital as part of what it calls a beautification campaign. That prompted one Iranian blogger, Zobin Nassiri, to jokingly ask what city fathers might call a campaign to erect posters of actresses like Catherine Zeta-Jones.

For school teacher Kazem Riahi, support for Hizbullah is a source of national pride.

"Iran is expanding its influence in the Middle East," he said. "Iran is a regional superpower. So it supports Hezbollah and any other movement that challenges other powers like Israel."

[Rasputin]

Iran builds a presence in Lebanon

Along the roadways of southern Lebanon, thousands of banners festoon street lights and utility poles. They feature a distinctive symbol, a red inscription from the center of Iran's flag, protectively swathing Lebanon's iconic green cedar.

The emblem belongs to the Iranian reconstruction organization. Its presence delivers a message that is not lost on critics of Iran's role here, nor supporters who have watched cratered roads filled in, damaged school walls resurrected and life return to some semblance of normalcy over the last year.

Other countries "have reconstructed everything: the schools, the buildings, the roads," said Nazim Khanafer, a 47-year-old building contractor in Ainata, a town ruined in the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah a year ago. It is now being rebuilt with the help of Iran and other countries. "They have paid money to the people, unlike the government."

The reconstruction of Lebanon after last summer's war was meant to strengthen the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured in from U.S.-friendly Persian Gulf countries

Instead, as government officials acknowledge, the rebuilding effort in badly damaged areas of southern Lebanon, south Beirut and the Bekaa Valley has mostly highlighted the government's weakness.

At stake is control over volatile pieces of real estate, some abutting Israel, that have been key battlegrounds over the last three decades in the proxy wars waged by Iran, Syria and the United States and its allies.

Though the state is distributing most of the donated funds, Iran and Qatar have decided to directly contribute and supervise their aid. Over the last year, these two countries have spent millions of dollars on flashy projects without the government's imprimatur.

In the eyes of many Lebanese, their government has had little role in rebuilding the country.

"There is a feeling that the state is absent from the reconstruction process," said Ali Amine, who has been closely following the rebuilding efforts in the south as an editor for Al Balad, a daily newspaper. "The government has shown no real interest in what happens in the south."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking Tuesday via giant screens placed in a south Beirut square, declared that his Iranian-backed group had spent $381 million to provide temporary shelter for 25,000 families, restore infrastructure and buildings and revive the economy. He accused the government of slowing down payments of $1 billion it had collected from international donors.

Government officials contend that they're not given the credit they deserve for the reconstruction effort. They've been busy fighting armed Islamic radicals in northern Lebanon while locked in a political battle with their opponents that all but shut down the government.

A Siniora aide acknowledged that his government had been struggling to gain an edge in the public relations battle over the reconstruction, but must overcome the red tape and bureaucracy inherent to state-run projects.

"Some people are very good at pointing to the shortcomings of the government and highlighting their own accomplishments," Mohammed Shattah, a spokesman for Siniora, said of Iran's reconstruction efforts. "These are attempts to weaken the state by weakening its image. We think they're counterproductive and do not help the state to become stronger."

Iran is a Shiite Muslim majority country that is run by hard-line anti-U.S. clerics and politicians. It sees itself as the patron of Shiites around the world, including those in Lebanon, who make up a third to half of the population.

The government in Tehran strongly supported Hezbollah in the war with Israel last year, and pledged to help Lebanon recover from the damage.

Whenever the Lebanese government, nonprofit organizations or other donor nations have faltered, Iran and its ally Hezbollah, which dominates most of the municipal governments of the south, have quickly swooped in, residents and officials say.

For example, when Qatar slowed reconstruction efforts several months ago because of corruption worries, Iran quickly upped its contribution.

"The Qataris were saying a lot of the money was being wasted," said Ibrahim Said, a business owner in Bint Jbeil, a border town that was crushed by Israeli airstrikes during the closing days of the war. "Four months ago, there was a sudden halt in reconstruction, and the Iranians said, 'If you don't want to do it, we'll step in.' "

The head of Iran's reconstruction effort says his country has set no spending limit for Lebanon.

"Contrary to other countries, we did not decide on a fixed budget for the reconstruction of Lebanon," Hussam Khoshnevis said. "The Islamic Republic decided to pay as much as is needed on the ground."
Much of Iran's financial support is invisible. It is channeled through Hezbollah's charity organizations. Immediately following the war, the Shiite militant group paid as much as $12,000 for each destroyed home or apartment. A large portion of this money was believed to have originated in Iran.

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."