Skip to main content

Hezbollah Plans to Aid Displaced Syrians

As the year-end holidays approach, Hezbollah reportedly plans to donate food and blankets to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Nasser Chararah reports.

Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters gesture as they pray during a ceremony to mark Ashura in Beirut's suburbs, November 25, 2012. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities if Israel attacked Lebanon. In a speech marking the Shi'ite Muslim festival of Ashura, Nasrallah said Hezbollah's response to any attack would dwarf the attacks from Gaza during the eight-day conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas rule
Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters gesture as they pray during a ceremony to mark Ashoura in Beirut's suburbs, Nov. 25, 2012. — REUTERS/Khalil Hassan

When the Christmas and New Year holidays come, Hezbollah intends to dole out 1,000 food rations, alongside blankets, to Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

According to a reliable source within the party, the decision to carry out this plan — which shall be officially announced in few days — was personally taken by the party’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah. Imdad Charity Association, which operates under the auspices of the party, will shell out these rations, each valued at $50, to Syrian refugees in Beirut, the West Bekaa valley and the south.

This initiative is not the first of its kind. During the holy month of Ramadan, Hezbollah distributed food packages to Syrian refugees in Beirut and the South, and the same scenario was repeated during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

On a deeper level, these initiatives reflect the need for Hezbollah to respond to media campaigns accusing the party of opposing the “popular movement” in Syria, and their need to play a political and logistical part in the regime’s quelling of the momentum for change, not solely through speeches but practically, on the ground, as well.

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

Continue reading this exclusive analysis

Original reporting and analysis unavailable elsewhere. Subscribe to AL-MONITOR to read this story and access everything we publish