Many people say money meant for reconstruction is going elsewhere.
"All the government cares about is putting money in their own pockets,"
18-year-old student Ali Mohammed told IPS. "They don't care about us,
just look around you at this destruction, they are doing nothing for
us."
Blocks and blocks of what were ten-storey apartment buildings were
completely levelled by Israeli bombing. Empty craters is sometimes all
that remains.
Hezbollah, led by Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, has spearheaded post-war
reconstruction in the suburb through its NGO, Jihad al-Binaa. The
organisation is well resourced, and has a force of 1,500 engineers.
Hezbollah founded Jihad al-Binaa in 1988 during Lebanon's 1975-1990
civil war. The NGO took the role of a kind of local municipality for
the Shia community in the absence of an effective government. It
continues to do so.
Jihad al-Binaa is one of a number of foundations run by Hezbollah.
Others also deliver services normally provided by governments, such as
healthcare and education. Hezbollah says the group is funded through
religious charitable donations such as zakat and the Shia Muslim system
of hummous, through which Shias donate a percentage of their incomes.
Hezbollah acted quickly after the bombings ended in August last year,
offering 12,000 dollars to each family who had lost their house. It
undertook reconstruction work directly for those most in need.
Officials loyal to Prime Minister Siniora accused Hezbollah of acting
as a "state within a state." In its response delivered on Al-Manar TV
which it owns, Hezbollah officials lashed out at "the absent state."
Within two weeks of the ceasefire last year, Hezbollah said the
government planners "still have no contingency plans for reconstruction
in the south or in Dahiyeh." That has remained largely the picture
since then.
Residents agree, and their sentiment has translated into increasing
respect and support for Hezbollah. Israeli officials had hoped the
attacks would destroy support for the group.
"Eight months after the war nobody in the government has yet come even
to inspect the damage to my home," Jihad Brahim, a 40-year-old member
of the Lebanese Army told IPS as he stood near a pile of rubble under a
half-destroyed building. "Look at this rubble, it would take a
bulldozer 15 minutes to clear this, but it's still here."
Brahim added, "Everyone in my building has a year's worth of support
from Hezbollah, and they are also carrying out reconstruction.
Hezbollah is much stronger now, and all of us respect them so much
more. I pray that Nasrallah lives a long life."
"The
government is giving us nothing, while Hezbollah is doing a great job
for us," 22- year-old electrician Hussein Shara'a told IPS. "Even with
all this work still to be done, we can live with any difficulty,
because the important thing is that we won the war."
The suburb is dotted with countless green and yellow banners of Jihad
al-Binaa. They read, 'Carrying On. Together We Resist. Together We
Rebuild'.
Mahmoud Rahman has been driving a taxi for 30 years. He bought an
apartment with his savings, but his house was almost destroyed by an
Israeli bomb.
"I never had a problem with America before, but because of their
backing of Israel my life is destroyed," he told IPS. "All my kids hate
America. Is this their democracy? If it is, we're better off without
it."
Al-Fadl Shalaq, former head of the Development and Reconstruction
Council, a body formed by former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri who was
assassinated in February 2005, says the damage suffered by Lebanon
during the Israeli onslaught exceeded that during the 1975-1990 Civil
War between extremist Muslim and Christian groups.
Writings 
Many local people accuse the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of refusal to help reconstruction in pro-Hezbollah areas like Dahiyeh.
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