Report: U.N. to Ask Israel to Compensate for Jiyyeh Oil Spill
The U.N. General-Assembly on Thursday is expected to adopt a resolution urging Israel to take "responsibility for immediate compensation" to Lebanon for the environmental damage that it caused when its fighter jets bombed the Jiyyeh power plant in 2006.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted diplomats as saying that the draft resolution, which was prepared by Sudan, is expected to get the votes of 168 countries out of 192 similar to previous years. The United States, Israel, Canada and Australia have since 2006 voted against the draft resolution.
The Lebanese coast was polluted by around 15,000 tons of fuel oil after Israel bombed the Jiyyeh power plant south of Beirut in mid-July during its 34-day offensive against Hizbullah.
At the time, Greenpeace described the spill, which polluted about 150 kilometers of the coast, as an "underwater nightmare" and a "timebomb" because oil had sunk to the seabed.