Reconstruction process to begin in late 2025

The post-war reconstruction process in Lebanon will begin at the end of this year, Mohammad Qabbani, the head of the state-run Council for Development and Reconstruction, said.

Qabbani added that France has donated $75 million for the reconstruction efforts.

Former public works and transportation minister Ali Hamie, who was named by Hezbollah to the previous government, has been appointed as President Josep Aoun’s adviser for reconstruction affairs, media reports said on June 3.

The president had told a Hezbollah delegation last month that “there is no link between (Hezbollah’s) weapons and reconstruction, explaining the role of a ministerial committee tasked with preparing a reconstruction study,” sources told Al-Jadeed television.

Aoun added to the delegation that he was seeking to hold an international conference with the participation of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., France and Egypt to rally support for Lebanon’s reconstruction process.

Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji later told visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that “there will be no reconstruction funds without disarming Hezbollah.”

Araghchi for his part said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri that Iranian companies are ready to take part in Lebanon’s reconstruction if the Lebanese government wants that.

The World Bank has estimated Lebanon's recovery and reconstruction costs at $11 billion following the war between Israel and Hezbollah, which ended with a ceasefire last November.

The report put the war's total economic cost at $14 billion, including $6.8 billion in damage to physical structures and $7.2 billion in economic losses from reduced productivity, forgone revenues and operating costs.

The Lebanese housing sector was the hardest hit, with losses estimated at $4.6 billion, while the tourism sector lost $3.6 billion.

"The impacts of the conflict have resulted in Lebanon's real GDP contracting by 7.1 percent in 2024, a significant setback compared to a no-conflict growth estimated at 0.9 percent," the World Bank said.

Israel and Hezbollah were involved in over a year of cross-border hostilities, including two months of open war, which ended with a ceasefire on November 27.

The fighting destroyed vast swathes of Hezbollah's strongholds in the country's south and east, as well as Beirut's southern suburbs.

Even before the war began, Lebanon was in the throes of an unprecedented economic crisis.