Hezbollah’s medical facilities, such as “Al Rassoul Al Aazam” hospital, “Alasan George Alhadath”, and “The Shaheed Ragheb Harb”, received significant increases in their budgets. In addition, organizations and facilities affiliated with Hezbollah that did not receive any aid whatsoever in 2016, began to receive it in 2020.
For example, the Hezbollah-affiliated “Al Rassoul Al Aazam” hospital received 14.7 billion Lebanese pounds in 2020, 5.5 billion pounds more than in 2016, regardless of the fact that it was not affected by the blast in Beirut in any way. In contrast, the budget of the “American University” hospital, which was extremely affected by the blast in that it treated many injured civilians, has not increased at all.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Hezbollah insists on keeping Lebanon’s resource-rich Health Ministry to itself. Its responsibility for Lebanon’s Ministry of Health allows it to divert large budgets to serve its interests and needs. This is how Hezbollah operates its vast civilian health infrastructure, that serves the Shiite population.
