Lebanon Premier Asks Arab States For Rebuilding Aid
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Prime Minister Siniora appealed to Arab countries yesterday to increase and accelerate their donations to Lebanon to help it rebuild from what he called “a series of devastating Israeli invasions” in the past 30 years.
Addressing a meeting of Arab finance ministers, Mr. Siniora called for a quick infusion of Arab funds to enable Lebanon to recover from the 34-day Israeli offensive against Hezbollah in July and August, and the civil war of 1975–90.
Mr. Siniora said the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas had inflicted a heavy loss of life and colossal damage to Lebanon’s infrastructure.
“The Lebanese have paid a heavy price in lives and properties as a result of this devastating war. Also, nearly a quarter of Lebanon’s population was displaced from their homes during the [Israeli] aggression.Direct and indirect economic losses reached billions of dollars,” Mr. Siniora told the Arab League’s Economic and Social Council.
Lebanon says it needs about $3.5 billion to repair buildings and infrastructure damaged in the Israeli offensive.But even before this year’s destruction, Lebanon was saddled with a public debt of about $38 billion — most of which stemmed from the costs of reconstruction from the civil war.
