It's been six weeks since a ceasefire halted the war between Israel and Hezbollah and many displaced Lebanese whose homes were destroyed in the fighting want to rebuild. But reconstruction and compensation are slow in coming. Large swaths of southern and eastern Lebanon — as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs — lie in ruins, tens of thousands of houses reduced to rubble. The World Bank estimated in a November report that losses to infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion. Under the ceasefire deal, Israeli forces are supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26, but it’s unclear if they will. For the Lebanese, reconstruction prospects and who will foot the bill remain unclear.
