The United States will pay for the rebuilding of the highest bridge in the Middle East, which was destroyed by Israeli planes during the July-August offensive against Lebanon, a US embassy statement said Saturday, according to dpa. The Mdairej bridge, which is 70 metres high, on the mountainous road linking Beirut and Damascus, was hit on July 21 during Israel's 33-day war against the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah militia. US State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Randall L Tobias and an administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said USAID will pay an estimated 20 million dollars for the repairs, according to dpa. The 44-million-dollar bridge was built by the Italian company Toto and was inaugurated in 1998 by then Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in a massive bomb blast on February 14, 2005, the news agency said. During Israel's offensive on Lebanon around 80 bridges were damaged or destroyed. Funding for the Mdairej bridge is part of a US commitment of 230 million dollars in post-war aid to Lebanon, the embassy said.
