Ex-Hezbollah minister reportedly named as president's reconstruction adviser
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 Tuesday.
The president had told a Hezbollah delegation last week 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 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 reportedly told visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday 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.
Araghchi's visit comes after Iran's main Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, was weakened by a 14-month war with Israel that left much of the Iran-backed group's political and military leadership dead.
Araghchi's visit is his first since October, which came at the height of the Israel-Hezbollah war that ended a month later with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. The war killed more than 4,000 in Lebanon, displaced over 1 million people and caused destruction that the World Bank said will coast $11 billion in reconstruction.
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