A resident who fled the border village of Shebaa in southern Lebanon checks the damage on his return after the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect on Nov. 27, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
The Lebanese Union of Public Works and Construction Contractors said in a statement issued Thursday morning that “Israeli aggression against Lebanon stops today, under the aegis of the international community, after its war machine carried out destructive actions that affected most Lebanese regions,” reports the official National News Agency (NNA).
In the same press release, the Union denounced “the horrific crimes that have befallen the Lebanese people as a result of the barbaric Zionist aggression,” and called on “the State to support the Lebanese Army in its national mission at the border.” It calls on the latter to “assume its role in reconstruction through its institutions, or through a special body bringing together all the public and private institutions concerned with reconstruction, foremost among them the public works and construction contractors‘ union and the engineers’ union.”
“The nature of the reconstruction differs from that which took place in 2006 and the explosion in the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, in terms of the destruction of entire villages and neighborhoods, which requires efforts to be devoted to drawing up a reconstruction policy corresponding to reality, and taking into account the laws in force,” it reads.
The union also declared a state of “reconstruction emergency for local companies.” It announced that it would seek support from the Federation of Arab Engineers and the Federation of Islamic Engineers. It called on “all professional unions, especially the engineers' union, to unite and propose national initiatives to rebuild and confront all sedition projects,” making “all its technical and human capacities available.”
The current phase requires all “technical and engineering efforts” to establish priorities, the union believes, particularly in terms of damage assessment, in order to carry out repairs “either by demolition or restoration” and to do so “without being exposed to risks of collapse during inspection.”
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