Poisonous clouds of pollution spread after Israel air strike
Lebanese minister says damage was deliberate, causing 'an even bigger disaster than the war itself'
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
The Independent | 09.10.2006
More people will die as a result of pollution unleashed by
Israel's bombing of the Lebanon than perished in the month-long war
itself, the Lebanese government believes.
Yacoub Sarraf, its Environment Minister, speaking exclusively to
The Independent on Sunday, said last week that a highly poisonous
cloud spread over a third of the country - an area that is home to
half its people - from a fire in a bombed fuel tank that burned for
12 days.
The same bombing released about four million gallons of oil into
the sea, in the largest ever spill in the eastern Mediterranean. He
insists that the environmental damage was "deliberately" caused.
Experts say that, if this was so, it would constitute a war crime,
in breach of both the Geneva Convention and the statute of the
International Criminal Court. Israel retorts that any such
suggestion is "very ridiculous".
The damage began on 13 July, when Israeli rockets hit a fuel
storage tank at the Jiyyeh power station 18 miles south of Beirut.
The government managed to repair the damage and prevent an oil
spill. But two days later, he continued, the rockets returned, not
merely hitting the same tank again - just 25 metres from the sea -
but fatally damaging its protective burm, a concrete and earth
barrier designed to stop any oil spilling from the tank from
reaching the Mediterranean.
"It was definitely deliberate.," he said. "They did not hit the
power station, just the fuel storage, and this was the tank that was
closest to the sea."
He expects the greatest "catastrophe" from the toxic cloud that
was blown by the prevailing wind over Beirut and one-third of the
country. Tests have shown, he says, that it contains high levels of
poisonous lead and mercury, and highly dangerous PCBs.
"Not only have we been breathing this for a month, but all the
agricultural produce has been subjected to it. Even worse, all these
poisons will come down with the rain, and some will seep through the
soil and give us a polluted water table.
"Then in a couple of years every single citizen in Lebanon will
definitely be subjected to poisonous matter in his drinking water."
He expected more Lebanese to die from the pollution than the 1,300,
overwhelmingly civilians, killed in the war. He added that studies
have shown there would be decreased fertility and higher rates of
cancer. "This is a bigger disaster even than the war itself," Mr
Sarraf said.
A spokesman for the Israeli government said: "We deny the
minister's accusations. They seem to be very ridiculous.
"We never deliberately targeted any civilian capacity or place,
we only targeted places or facilities relevant to Hizbollah."
More people will die as a result of pollution unleashed by
Israel's bombing of the Lebanon than perished in the month-long war
itself, the Lebanese government believes.
Yacoub Sarraf, its Environment Minister, speaking exclusively to
The Independent on Sunday, said last week that a highly poisonous
cloud spread over a third of the country - an area that is home to
half its people - from a fire in a bombed fuel tank that burned for
12 days.
The same bombing released about four million gallons of oil into
the sea, in the largest ever spill in the eastern Mediterranean. He
insists that the environmental damage was "deliberately" caused.
Experts say that, if this was so, it would constitute a war crime,
in breach of both the Geneva Convention and the statute of the
International Criminal Court. Israel retorts that any such
suggestion is "very ridiculous".
The damage began on 13 July, when Israeli rockets hit a fuel
storage tank at the Jiyyeh power station 18 miles south of Beirut.
The government managed to repair the damage and prevent an oil
spill. But two days later, he continued, the rockets returned, not
merely hitting the same tank again - just 25 metres from the sea -
but fatally damaging its protective burm, a concrete and earth
barrier designed to stop any oil spilling from the tank from
reaching the Mediterranean.
"It was definitely deliberate.," he said. "They did not hit the
power station, just the fuel storage, and this was the tank that was
closest to the sea."
He expects the greatest "catastrophe" from the toxic cloud that
was blown by the prevailing wind over Beirut and one-third of the
country. Tests have shown, he says, that it contains high levels of
poisonous lead and mercury, and highly dangerous PCBs.
"Not only have we been breathing this for a month, but all the
agricultural produce has been subjected to it. Even worse, all these
poisons will come down with the rain, and some will seep through the
soil and give us a polluted water table.
"Then in a couple of years every single citizen in Lebanon will
definitely be subjected to poisonous matter in his drinking water."
He expected more Lebanese to die from the pollution than the 1,300,
overwhelmingly civilians, killed in the war. He added that studies
have shown there would be decreased fertility and higher rates of
cancer. "This is a bigger disaster even than the war itself," Mr
Sarraf said.
A spokesman for the Israeli government said: "We deny the
minister's accusations. They seem to be very ridiculous.
"We never deliberately targeted any civilian capacity or place,
we only targeted places or facilities relevant to Hizbollah."
