War Takes Its Costly Toll On the Earth

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Endangered turtles are dying shortly after hatching from their eggs. Fish are floating dead off the coast. Flaming oil is sending waves of black smoke toward the city.

In this country of Mediterranean beaches and snow-capped mountains, Israeli bombing that caused an oil spill has created an environmental disaster. And cleanup cannot start until the fighting stops, the United Nations says.

World attention has focused on the hundreds of people who have died in the three-week-old conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. The environmental damage has attracted little attention, but experts warn the long-term effects could be devastating.

Some 110,000 barrels of oil poured into the Mediterranean two weeks ago after Israeli warplanes hit a power plant. One tank is still burning, sending thick black smoke across the country.

Compounding the problem is an Israeli naval blockade and military operations that have made cleanup impossible. Environmentalists say the longer the problem goes unchecked, the greater the lasting damage.

The oil has slicked about one-third of Lebanon’s coast, a 50-mile stretch centered on the Jiyeh plant 12 miles south of Beirut, the country’s environment minister, Yaacoub Sarraf, said. It has also drifted into the Mediterranean, hitting neighboring Syria. Experts warn Cyprus, Turkey, and even Greece could be affected.

“Chances are our whole marine ecosystem facing the Lebanese shoreline is already dead,” Lebanon’s environment minister, Yaacoub Sarraf said. “What is at stake today is all marine life in the eastern Mediterranean.”

Lebanon is one of the few countries in the Arab world that pays attention to pollution. Minibuses that run on diesel have been banned, while factories are forced to abide by strict rules.

Now, large parts of the country’s sandy and rocky beaches are covered with thick black oil. Fishermen have been forced out of business, and people are getting scared to eat fish. Baby turtles, usually born in late summer, die after they swim into the polluted water shortly after hatching from eggs.

The first country to rush help was Kuwait, which suffered a similar disaster in the 1991 Gulf War. But cleanup supplies are stuck in Beirut.

“We have no access to Lebanon territorial waters,” Mr. Sarraf said. “This means that we are already 10 days delayed, and in terms of oil pollution, 10 days is a century.”

“Cleanup operations should start as soon as possible; otherwise, most of the damage will be irreversible,” the head of the on-the-ground assessment group, Wael Hmaidan, said.


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