An oil spill off the coast of Occupied Palestine/Israel has contaminated hundreds of kilometers of Lebanon‘s southern coast with tar. The shoreline, which had some of the cleanest beaches in Lebanon, is now experiencing an environmental disaster.
Tyre Beach, in fact, was listed by National Geographic in 2019 among the best in the Middle-East.
Now, it is facing an environmental disaster due to the oil spill that has killed at least one endangered sea turtle.
According to Samah Mazraani, the contamination is not only threatening sea life, but also the Tyre Nature Reserve. Scientists are still investigating to decide if the sea is safe for swimming.
“When are we gonna wake up and realize fossil fuels come with costs to our ecosystems and who will be held accountable for the oil spill that reached Lebanon?” Mazraani wrote on Instagram.
Rather than waiting for the idle government to do something, the people took action into their own hands, again, as they did in Beirut following the port explosion of August 4th.
On Sunday, Minteshreen’s environmental committee gathered with the locals to clean up the turtle reserve in Mansouri in the South. They were able to clear the tar from the beach and restore it.
They wrote: “In light of the failure of the Lebanese authorities to carry out their environmental duties and clean the beach, we call on them now to do their legal duty and prosecute the parties responsible for this leak, holding them accountable for the serious environmental damage inflicted on our southern coast.”
In a report highlighting the extent of the damages of the oil spill, Lebanon asked the United Nations to step in with an investigation and secure Lebanon with compensation.
Lebanese Foreign Ministry described it as an environmental catastrophe, noting that the process of undoing the damage “may take many years.”