Reports published in Lebanon over the past year indicate that, for the last 25 years, operatives of the Hezbollah terrorist organization have enjoyed status equal to that of soldiers in the Lebanese Armed Forces.
The government pays pensions and compensation to them and their families, and provides economic benefits to a large segment of the organization’s supporters and operatives (transfers often referred to as “pay-to-slay”).
These payments are made to fighters and operatives who were imprisoned (by Israel or the South Lebanese Army) for involvement in terrorism against Israel, to operatives wounded in the course of such activity, and to families of fighters who were killed. The Lebanese state thus funds members of a militia that is not subordinate to its authority and which sometimes acts against the state.
In this, it is similar to the Palestinian Authority, which pays wages and benefits to Palestinians serving jail sentences in Israel for terrorist activities, including members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which fight against the P.A.
It should be mentioned that a large part of the Lebanese state budget comes from foreign aid, provided mainly by the U.S. and European countries, many of which designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Some of the payments to Hezbollah operatives are provided monthly and have been paid for decades, based on understandings reached in 1999 between the heads of the Lebanese state at the time, all of whom were allies of Hezbollah, namely Parliament Speaker and Amal movement head Nabih Berri, President Emile Lahoud and Prime minister Salim al-Huss.
According to these agreements, fighters of the “resistance,” i.e., Hezbollah and Amal, who were wounded in the course of fighting with Israel, and the families of fighters who were killed, are entitled to compensation and benefits identical to those paid to soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces and their families.
Some payments are provided directly by the authorities. For example, Law No. 364, enacted in 2001—about a year after Israel’s withdrawal from Southern Lebanon—grants compensation or a regular pension to prisoners released from Israeli or South Lebanon Army prisons. The amount is based on the duration of imprisonment: Longer terms of imprisonment bring higher pay.
Other payments are transferred to Hezbollah and Amal operatives and their families through the Council for the South, a government body with a budget of tens of millions of dollars, which is effectively controlled by these organizations.
Some of the payments and benefits are associated with specific circumstances, usually rounds of fighting with Israel. For example, during the latest round of fighting, which was started by Hezbollah on Oct. 8, 2023, the Lebanese government at the time, headed by Najib Mikati, in which Hezbollah and its allies had a majority, approved the transfer of millions of dollars in aid to residents of Southern Lebanon, including Hezbollah operatives.
Moreover, the current Lebanese government, headed by Nawaf Salam, which received the blessing of the U.S., recently approved tax exemptions for “Lebanese affected by the war,” without establishing clear criteria for receiving the aid and without excluding terrorist operatives. The ambiguity of the criteria suggests that this is an indirect way of compensating Hezbollah supporters and operatives.
Over the past year, there has been growing criticism in Lebanon of the payments made by the state to operatives of Hezbollah, which is seen as dragging the country into the war with Israel on orders from Iran, and there have been calls to stop these payments.
This report reviews the payments and the criticism voiced in this context.
Payments to wounded Hezbollah operatives
Following the latest round of fighting with Israel, initiated by Hezbollah on Oct. 8, 2023, as part of what it called the “aid front” helping Gaza, the Lebanese government allocated several million dollars for compensation for property damage as a result of the war, and for payments to the wounded and the families of slain fighters, most of whom are members of Hezbollah or Amal.
As stated, reports in the Lebanese media have it that some of the payments to the wounded and the families of the “martyrs” are made directly by the government itself, while others are transferred via the Council for the South, a government body controlled by Hezbollah and Amal. Moreover, according to one report, the family of a slain Hezbollah operative receives a monthly salary “just like [the family of] a soldier” in the Lebanese army.
The following are some of the benefits mentioned in the Lebanese media:
• On Nov. 30, 2023, it was reported that the government had allocated $10 million for compensating “victims of the aggression,” with payments to be channeled via the Council for the South, for property damage and to “the families of the martyrs and the wounded.”
The Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily reported that individuals with permanent disabilities and the families of the “martyrs” would receive between $10,000 and $20,000.
An official in the Council for the South clarified that beneficiaries would include both civilians and armed operatives, stating, “The council will pay the families of the victims $20,000 for each person killed in the shelling … or killed as a member of Hezbollah.” In addition, he said, families of Hezbollah martyrs would receive a “monthly salary, just like a soldier,” noting that there were about 300 martyrs, “including Hezbollah operatives.”
• On May 28, 2024, the Lebanese government complied with the request of the Council for the South to provide it with approximately $1 million for 52 families of martyrs, most of them Hezbollah fighters. A statement issued by then-Prime Minister Mikati said that the funds were intended for “families of the martyrs and for families displaced … as a result of the Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023.”
However, MP Ghada Ayoub, from the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, reported that the funds were meant for 52 families of “martyrs” that had applied for aid, and listed the names of the “martyrs.” Forty-nine of them were described as “martyrs of the resistance,” i.e., as Hezbollah operatives, and three as “martyred civilians.”
Tax breaks for recent ‘war victims’
Furthermore, in early May 2024, the current government under Nawaf Salam approved a “draft bill for those affected by the Israeli war, granting them exemptions from certain taxes and fees.”
Media reports about this did not specify the criteria to qualify for the exemption, and some in Lebanon saw the bill as an “election bribe” ahead of the municipal elections and as an attempt by Hezbollah and Amal, which are part of the government, to quell the anger of their voters over Hezbollah’s failure to adequately compensate its supporters for the extensive damage from the war.
The bill in question may be the one drafted by Yousuf Khalil, the minister of finance in the previous government, which was not approved by that government. According to the pro-Hezbollah daily Al-Akhbar, that bill applies to individuals, companies and institutions in the Dahiya suburb of Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and South Lebanon that were affected by the war, and exempts them from income, municipal and property taxes, as well as from water, electricity and telephone charges. The exemptions also apply to “the families of the martyrs.”
Same status as soldiers and public employees
As noted above, in 1999 the then heads of the Lebanese state agreed that slain and wounded fighters of the “resistance” would be entitled to the same compensation and payments as soldiers of the Lebanese army.
A notable example was in May 2024, when the Lebanese government ordered the transfer of approximately $260,000 from the state budget reserves to the Council for the South “to ensure the payment of temporary compensation for 2024 to 383 families of resistance martyrs.”
The government specified that these payments were based on Decree No. 11227, issued by the Cabinet on April 18, 2023, granting families temporary monthly compensation amounting to 75% of the deceased’s salary.
However, the original decree referred only to public sector employees and to members of the armed and security forces, not to operatives of the “resistance.”
So in this instance, Hezbollah fighters were accorded the same status as public sector employees and members of Lebanon’s security forces.
Compensation for Lebanese released from Israeli prisons
Lebanese citizens who were imprisoned in Israel or by the South Lebanon Army are also entitled to compensation and pension payments from the state, the amount of which depends on the length of their incarceration.
Law No. 364 awards a payment of 2.5 million Lebanese pounds (in 2001 this sum was equivalent to $1,600) to individuals imprisoned for one year or less, and 5 million pounds per year of imprisonment to those incarcerated for one to three years.
Individuals imprisoned for more than three years can choose between two options: either a payment of 5 million pounds per year of imprisonment, or a monthly pension of 400,000 pounds plus a payment of 11,000 pounds for each year of imprisonment.
Prisoners who were harmed during their incarceration are also eligible for compensation, regardless of the length of imprisonment. The family of a prisoner who died in prison is entitled to receive his pension, regardless of the length of imprisonment.
The Council for the South
The Council for the South was established by the government in 1970 and is subordinate to the prime minister. Its stated objectives are “to foster the steadfastness of the people of South [Lebanon], provide compensation for damage caused by Israeli attacks and transfer funds to public projects in the south.”
The heads of the council over the years have been Amal officials, as is the council’s present head, Hashem Haidar.
The council receives an annual budget from the state, supplemented by contributions from non-state actors. According to a report from 2017, its budget that year was $40 million.
The anti-Hezbollah daily Nida Al-Watan reported in 2020 that the council’s budget that year was 200 billion Lebanese pounds (about $2.3 million at the current exchange rate).
Some of the state funds funneled to the council end up in the hands of Hezbollah and Amal. In addition to repairing buildings damaged in Israeli airstrikes and carrying out infrastructure projects, the council compensates the families of armed operatives who were killed in the fighting with Israel.
According to Qabalan Qabalan, who was head of the council until 2022, social benefits are provided to “the wounded, to released prisoners and to the families of those injured or killed. … They are provided to [the families of] victims who carried arms and were killed in confrontations with the Israeli enemy. … We have been doing this since 1999.”
In the years since the council’s establishment, residents of the south have complained that it favors Hezbollah and Amal activists and their supporters. It was reported, for example, that the families of slain operatives of the Lebanese National Resistance Front received compensation of 100,000 Lebanese pounds, while families of Hezbollah and Amal slain operatives received 20 million pounds. It was further claimed that the council favored Amal and Hezbollah strongholds over other localities on the border with Israel. Furthermore, the council pays rent to Amal for offices it uses that are owned by this movement.
Criticism In Lebanon
In recent months, there has been growing criticism in Lebanon of the payments made to Hezbollah, which is seen as responsible for dragging the country into the war on instructions from Iran and without regard for Lebanon’s interests.
For example, following the government’s May 28, 2024, decision to transfer approximately $1 million to the Council for the South for payments to the families of 52 “martyrs,” most of them Hezbollah fighters, MP Ghada Ayoub wrote on X:
“On behalf of the Lebanese people and as representatives of the entire [Lebanese] nation, we submitted a question to the Lebanese government regarding the legality of taking money from the Lebanese people’s pockets—from the budget reserves—to pay about $20,000 to [each] family of the martyrs [who were killed] due to [Hezbollah’s] decision to start a war in order to help Gaza, a decision taken in contravention of Article 65 of the Lebanese Constitution. We also stress that compensation must only be paid to innocent and unarmed civilians.”
‘Dragged us into a war’
Lebanese politician Hadi Mashmoushi from the National Dialogue Party agreed with Ayoub, writing on X: “We have nothing to do with the commanders and fighters of Hezbollah, which decided on its own to declare a war in disregard of the state and the constitution, as well as the will, the interest, the security and the stability of the Lebanese citizens.
“Furthermore, [this organization] threatens our lives and the lives of our children and forces the government to pay compensation out of our pockets. What kind of twisted logic is this?! I am sometimes amazed by the impudence of these liars, who dare to demand what they do not deserve.”
Lebanese journalist Pierre Jabour wrote on X: “Lebanon is at the mercy of Hezbollah. Ninety-three billion pounds [will go] to the south while the people are bankrupt. Hezbollah controls decisions of war and peace without oversight or supervision. The state is unable to hold it to account or to defend itself. The Lebanese people are going bankrupt and paying taxes to fund Hezbollah’s wars.
“Where is Hezbollah’s responsibility for the destruction of the south? People of the south who oppose Hezbollah should speak out. Those who cry out that they are ‘willing to sacrifice themselves for [slain Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah’ are the ones who should pay the price for his adventures.”
‘Hezbollah steals from the state under the auspices of the law’
Similar criticism was expressed by Nida Al-Watan columnist Alain Sarkis, who alluded to Law No. 364. He wrote that these payments are made at the expense of soldiers in the Lebanese army and are another expression of Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon’s decision-making:
“[Over the years] Hezbollah has managed to take control of Lebanon’s centers of power. The parliament, which [for many years] operated under the patronage of the Syrian regime, enacted laws that were funded by the Lebanese [state], so that some of the people pay taxes while Hezbollah enjoys these funds [and uses them] to ensure the welfare of its fighters. …
“Following the first Israeli withdrawal on May 25, 2000, [then-Lebanese President] Lahoud and the government took part in subordinating the state’s funds to Hezbollah and to its supporters at the expense of the wages of the [Lebanese army] soldiers, which were cut in order to transfer [funds] to south [Lebanon, i.e., to Hezbollah]. Automobile taxes were raised and [new] taxes were imposed and transferred indirectly to Hezbollah on the pretext of supporting the south,” Sarkis wrote.
“What is worse than all these duties and taxes is the law approved by parliament in 2001 [i.e., Law No. 364] at the behest of Hezbollah, Lahoud and the Syrians, which treats any prisoner, including those detained in Israel or even in the prisons of the SLA, like a soldier in the Lebanese army and grants him compensation and a salary. This law is still in force. They manipulated the law to provide a permanent pension or compensation to every prisoner who was held by the SLA and to his family. …
“The state still implements this law. Hezbollah exploited its influence to expand the circle of those who benefit from this law, with no accountability or oversight, especially after the release of the prisoners of 2008,” he continued.
Then [Hezbollah] took over the Ministry of Finance—[a move] that cost and continues to cost the state huge amounts—in order to [guarantee] that its fighters receive the same funding as the Lebanese Armed Forces. …
“Now the parliament faces a serious issue: Will it continue to finance Hezbollah’s fighters in a roundabout manner, or will it stop implementing the law[?] …
“How can the Lebanese government, which is trying to regain its sovereignty, treat Hezbollah’s operatives the same way it treats the soldiers of the Lebanese Armed Forces? Will the Lebanese people continue to pay taxes to fund Hezbollah’s fighters, especially considering that most of the [released] prisoners have returned to their activities in the service of Hezbollah[?] What depletes the state coffers more than anything else is the stipend paid to the wives and children of slain [Hezbollah] fighters. Will the parliament have the courage to stop wasting [money by] funding Hezbollah, or will it ignore what is happening?” Sarkis asked.
“The government cannot continue the reform and the battle against corruption without abolishing the law enacted in 2001 and under the Syrian occupation. Abolishing it is part of the reform that will enable [us] to turn to the international community and attract investment. [A failure] to correct the law is likely to expose the country to sanctions, because the law no longer deals [only] with prisoners but is an unjust law for funding Hezbollah and its supporters.
“There is no doubt that the amounts paid out [under this law] have been very high. … The fact that the wives and children of deceased prisoners continue to receive their salaries means the continued waste of state funds and the financing of Hezbollah with legal funds but in illegal ways. There is no transparency in this matter and the number of prisoners who receive [the payments] is concealed, but there are thousands, in addition to prisoners who are currently [held by Israel] and will be released in the future,” Sarkis wrote.
Originally published by the Middle East Media Research Institute.