Casualties of War: Lebanon’s Trees, Air and Sea

[Rose Siding]

As Israel continues the bombing campaign that has turned parts of Lebanon into rubble, environmentalists are warning of widespread and lasting damage.

Spilled and burning oil, along with forest fires, toxic waste flows and growing garbage heaps have gone from nuisances to threats to people and wildlife, they say, marring a country traditionally known for its clean air and scenic greenery. Many of Lebanon’s once pristine beaches and much of its coastline have been coated with a thick sludge that threatens marine life.

As smoke billowed overhead on Friday, turning day into dusk, Ali Saeed, a resident, recounted how war has changed this small industrial town about 15 miles south of Beirut.
...
“There’s nowhere to run,” Mr. Saeed said, showing off the black speckles on his skin that have turned everything white here into gray. “It’s dripping fuel from the sky.”

A large oil spill and fire caused by Israeli bombing have sent an oil slick traveling up the coast of Lebanon to Syria, threatening to become the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history and engulfing this town in smoke.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/29/world/middleeast/29environment.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Scurrilous]

1. "You can’t swim in the water anymore, it’s all black...

...This is like the Exxon Valdez spill in America.."

[CHIMO]

2. Lebanon oil spill crisis

The Lebanese government has appealed for help to clean up a huge oil spill along its coastline created after Israel bombed a power plant.

The environment ministry says up to 30,000 tonnes of oil flooded into the sea after Israeli jets attacked storage tanks at the Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut on July 13 and 15.

The spill has affected more than 100 kilometres of the Lebanese coast.

Yacoub al-Sarraf, the Lebanese environment minister, said: "We have never seen a spill like this in the history of Lebanon. It is a major catastrophe.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/87455845-BD62-4D4B-9F16-559AF4BCFD27.htm