The United States will pay to rebuild the Mdeirej bridge in Lebanon, the highest in the Middle East, which was damaged in Israeli bombardment during the Israel- Hezbollah conflict, the Naharnet website reported on Saturday.

U.S. State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Randall L. Tobias, currently in Lebanon on a two-day visit, was quoted as saying on Friday that work on the bridge is a tangible proof that U.S. pledges of assistance "amount to more than just words."

The 70-meter-high bridge, on the mountainous road linking Beirut and Damascus, was hit on July 21 in the early days of Israel's 34-day offensive on Lebanon. A 200-meter-long section was destroyed.

Tobias is also administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will pay an estimated 20 million dollars in repairs.

Direct material damage to housing and infrastructure in Lebanon during the war has been put at 3.6 billion dollars.

Private Lebanese and foreign firms are repairing or rebuilding some of 80 bridges damaged or destroyed in Israeli bombardment.

The report said that funding for the Mdeirej bridge project was part of a U.S. commitment of 230 million dollars in post-war aid to Lebanon.

Source: Xinhua