By Alistair Lyon
Beirut - Hezbollah handed out bundles of cash on Friday to people whose homes were wrecked by Israeli bombing, consolidating the Iranian-backed group's support among Lebanon's Shi'as and embarrassing the Beirut government.
"People already had faith in Hezbollah, this will strengthen their faith," said Ayman Jaber, 27, with a wad of $12 000 in banknotes Hezbollah had given him.
Israeli and US officials have voiced concern that Hezbollah will entrench its popularity by moving fast - with Iranian money - to help people whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the 34-day conflict with Israel.
Hezbollah has not said where the funds are coming from to compensate people for an estimated 15 000 destroyed homes. The scheme appears likely to cost at least $150-million. The Lebanese government has yet to launch anything similar.
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Several mass funerals took place in the south for at least 250 people killed during the war, including 30 in Srifa and 29, among them two Hezbollah fighters, in Qana, residents said.
"Thanks to Iran for standing beside the Lebanese," senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Kaouk told mourners in Qana, using the occasion to attack Washington.
"Americans, American administration: you are partners in massacres, you are partners in killing us, partners in destroying our country," he declared.
Lebanon's reconstruction chief said Israeli bombardment had inflicted a "disastrous" $3.6 billion worth of physical damage on Lebanon from which it could take years to recover.
Al-Fadl Shalaq, head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, said the devastation from the 34-day conflict exceeded that caused by Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
"I have witnessed all the wars in Lebanon but I have never seen a war this fierce and I do not see a response to clearing the rubble of war to match it," he told Reuters in an interview.
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