On January 22 Hezbollah announced that Sheikh Muhammad Khalil Hammadi, in charge of the western Bekaa Valley, had been shot dead as he left his home in the town of Mashara in the western Bekaa.
The incident caused a great deal of reverberation in Lebanon. It was claimed that the assassination was carried out after continuous surveillance by the assassination team, whose members used long weapons. So far, their identities are unknown and the reason for his assassination is unclear.
Khalil Hammadi personally supervised and controlled the compensation money paid by Hezbollah for the war victims in the western Bekaa Valley. In our assessment, there is a direct connection between his involvement and responsibility in financial matters and his assassination.
In a recent article published by the Al-Aad TV channel, Hammadi can be seen explaining that they have completed distributing more than 4,000 checks for compensation for 95 percent of the victims, totaling more than $3 million, in accordance with the field tests and surveys carried out by the team of engineers from the Western Bekaa Valley, who are under Hammadi’s responsibility.
In light of the circumstances and the assassination that took place close to the completion of the compensation payments, we see a direct connection between the two issues, as it is evident that in recent times there is growing frustration and bitterness among Hezbollah supporters due to the delay in paying compensation for the damages caused in the last war or the failure to pay compensation or those whose compensation is not sufficient to rebuild the houses.
In addition, many complained about Hezbollah’s aid mechanism: in many areas, the victims were asked to repair the damage with their own money and submit the receipts to Hezbollah in order to receive reimbursements. This method caused anger among the Shiite base, which claimed that they had spent all their money during the war paying for rent or finding shelter elsewhere after they left their homes in areas where there was intense fighting, such as the Bekaa Valley, where Khalil Hammadi was killed, and therefore they had no money left to pay for the renovations and repairs after returning to their destroyed homes.