JERUSALEM, Aug 17: An Israeli general urged the international community on Thursday not to allow Iran the opportunity to boost Hezbollah’s standing by funding the bulk of reconstruction in shattered areas of Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed after a ceasefire ended a month of fighting with Israel on Monday that his group would help fund repairs for some 15,000 bomb-damaged homes across Lebanon.

“What I’m afraid of is that what is going to happen now is the Iranians will be the first people around to bring in huge amounts of money for reconstruction,” Brig Gen Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior Israeli intelligence officer, said.

“We should be very much on alert to make sure that the international community, through its organisations, and not the Iranians, are those who are going to reconstruct,” Gen Kuperwasser told reporters.

Dismissing critics who say Israel failed to defeat Hezbollah decisively in 34 days of fighting, Gen Kuperwasser said the war had begun to create a ‘real change’, having moved the guerrillas away from the Israeli border.—Reuters