TRIPOLI: Residents of Tripoli’s embattled Syria Street demanded higher compensation from the government’s Higher Relief Committee (HRC) Tuesday, over damage sustained in recent fighting.
Gathering at the entrance of Tripoli's recently renovated Vegetable Market, the residents and store owners revealed compensation checks of under $100 each.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Mohammad, an owner of a vegetable store, said that the compensation was further reduced by the administrative fees, as well tax payments.
“What is left is nothing more than LL100, 000,” he added.
Syria Street, separating the warring neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, was subject to heavy damage following four-days of clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamist militants last October.
Lebanon’s Cabinet declared the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood a “disaster-stricken area” after the October clashes, allocating $20 million for compensation and reconstruction projects.
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri followed suit with his own $20 million pledge to affected areas.
Another store owner, Abu Walid, whose shop was destroyed by heavy rocket fire, said that the compensation payments could not make up for the thousands of dollars he lost as a result of the destruction of his store.
The protestors called on the director-general of the HRC, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Khair, to form a second committee to evaluate the damages sustained by the latest round of fighting, after a previous committee surveyed the area following the clashes.
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