Lebanon to Shut Down 79 Factories Polluting Litani River

Lebanon pollution/NNA
Lebanon pollution/NNA
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Lebanon to Shut Down 79 Factories Polluting Litani River

Lebanon pollution/NNA
Lebanon pollution/NNA

Caretaker Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan decided on Thursday to shut down 79 unlicensed factories in eastern Lebanon for their role in polluting the Litani River, one of the biggest in the country, and for turning it into an immense sewage canal.

According to the Litani River Authority, the level of pollution has caused, in an unprecedented way, a rise in cancer cases in the towns and villages surrounding the River.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, head of the Authority Sami Alawieh welcomed the Industry Ministry’s decision but said it should take practical steps to close down the factories.

“There are more than 600 unlicensed factories,” he said.

The official also said that a licensed institution, which is polluting the river on a daily basis, also needs to be shot down.

The Litani River Authority had approached the Public Prosecutor’s Financial office and informed it about the establishment of Syrian refugee camps on the banks of the River, turning it into a sewage canal and a waste dump.

Alawieh said municipalities and governors in the area should be allowed to monitor industrial factories operating near the River and to take the necessary measures to stop them from causing pollution.

Dr. Ali Yaacoub, an expert in environmental engineering, described the situation as “an environmental catastrophe.”

“Pollution caused a huge rise in cancer cases,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat, saying that around 45 people were recently diagnosed with the disease in the town of Hawsh, on the banks of the Litani River.

Yaacoub lamented that the action of the Lebanese authorities had come late after the river became a sewage swamp and garbage dump.



WHO Says Gaza Health Care at Breaking Point as Fuel Runs Out

In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
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WHO Says Gaza Health Care at Breaking Point as Fuel Runs Out

In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP
In this file photo, Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital who has since been detained, supervises the treatment of a Palestinian man injured in an Israeli strike - AFP

The World Health Organization on Tuesday pleaded for fuel to be allowed into Gaza to keep its remaining hospitals running, warning the Palestinian territory's health system was at "breaking point".

"For over 100 days, no fuel has entered Gaza and attempts to retrieve stocks from evacuation zones have been denied," said Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, AFP reported.

"Combined with critical supply shortages, this is pushing the health system closer to the brink of collapse."

Peeperkorn said only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals were currently minimally to partially functional. They have a total of around 1,500 beds -- around 45 percent fewer than before the conflict began.

He said all hospitals and primary health centres in north Gaza were currently out of service.

In Rafah in southern Gaza, health services are provided through the Red Cross field hospital and two partially-functioning medical points.

Speaking from Jerusalem, he said the 17 partially functioning hospitals and seven field hospitals were barely running on a minimum amount of daily fuel and "will soon have none left".

"Without fuel, all levels of care will cease, leading to more preventable deaths and suffering."

Hospitals were already switching between generators and batteries to power ventilators, dialysis machines and incubators, he said, and without fuel, ambulances cannot run and supplies cannot be delivered to hospitals.

Furthermore, field hospitals are entirely reliant on generators, and without electricity, the cold chain for keeping vaccines would fail.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Monday that 5,194 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on the territory on March 18 following a truce.

The overall death toll in Gaza since the war broke out on October 7, 2023 has reached 55,493 people, according to the health ministry.

"People often ask when Gaza is going to be out of fuel; Gaza is already out of fuel," said WHO trauma surgeon and emergency officer Thanos Gargavanis, speaking from the Strip.

"We are walking already the fine line that separates disaster from saving lives. The shrinking humanitarian space makes every health activity way more difficult than the previous day."