The spill was caused by an Israeli airstrike on oil storage tanks in the coastal city of Jiye, just north of Sidon. Over the weeks, the oil spread north along the Lebanese coast, hitting Beirut, the Christian town of Jounieh and the Sunni Arab city of Tripoli.
Lebanon's Coast Is Drowning in Oil
A spill caused by an Israeli airstrike has blackened popular beaches and threatens the economy and delicate ecosystems.
By Borzou Daragahi
Times Staff Writer
September 4, 2006
BEIRUT — The azure waters of the Mediterranean have long been a symbol of Lebanon's fun-loving character and proud maritime history. But the country's prized 135-mile coast has become its biggest environmental disaster.
Thick gobs of oil have clogged the coast's coral reefs. Sandy beaches have become black-stained no-go zones. Rocky fishermen's coves have become dark soups of crude. All are the result of Israeli airstrikes on seaside oil tanks in the first days of the war against Hezbollah.
Between 3 1/2 and 5 million gallons of oil have fouled more than half of the Lebanese coast, and the damage grows each day that the fractured central government fails to begin the cleanup. Scientists have compared it to the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker, which ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, dumping 11 million gallons of oil.
The environmental group Greenpeace has sounded the alarm.
"The scene is horrific," the group's Mediterranean division said in an Aug. 22 announcement after it played a videotape to reporters showing the underwater consequences of the spill. "The seabed is completely covered with fuel oil, which will threaten marine life for many years to come if it is not contained and removed immediately."
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