The Mediterranean is threatened by its worst environmental disaster after Israel's bombing of a power plant in Lebanon sent thousands of tonnes of fuel gushing into the sea, the country's environment minister said yesterday.
'Up until now 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil have spilled out into the sea after Israel's bombing of the power station in Jiyeh two weeks ago,' Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf said. 'It's without doubt the biggest environmental catastrophe that the Mediterranean has known and it risks having terrible consequences, not only for our country but for all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean.'
Fuad Hamdan, director of Friends of the Earth, Europe, and founder of Greenpeace Lebanon, said it was 'the worst environmental disaster ever on the eastern Mediterranean coast'.
They spoke as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Jerusalem for talks on ending the war in Lebanon sparked by Hezbollah guerillas' abduction of two Israeli soldiers three weeks ago.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accused Dr Rice of serving only Israel's interests, and vowed to strike cities 'in the centre' of Israel if the Jewish state continued to attack civilians in Lebanon.
Dr Rice was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss the outlines of a UN Security Council resolution to set the terms of engagement for an international force. She will also meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
Israeli forces bombed the fuel tanks on July 14 and 15, just days into their offensive on Lebanon.
