UNIFIL to Assist in Cleanup of Oil Spill From Israel

Illustrative: UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol near the village of Mais el Jabal, along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, August 26, 2020. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
Illustrative: UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol near the village of Mais el Jabal, along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, August 26, 2020. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
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UNIFIL to Assist in Cleanup of Oil Spill From Israel

Illustrative: UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol near the village of Mais el Jabal, along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, August 26, 2020. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)
Illustrative: UNIFIL peacekeepers patrol near the village of Mais el Jabal, along the southern Lebanese border with Israel, August 26, 2020. (Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP)

UNIFIL is currently studying a request presented by the Lebanese authorities to help deal with an oil spill that may have originated from a ship passing near the Israeli coast and has now reached the southern shores of Lebanon.

UNIFIL spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, told the National News Agency that in relation to the oil spill and tar deposited in parts of the coastline in south Lebanon, UNIFIL has been contacted by local authorities to see what help can be provided within our available capabilities and equipment.

“We are studying these requests to see how we can help,” the spokesperson said.

Sticky black deposits were visible on Monday on beaches in a nature reserve in Tyre, south Lebanon.

Israeli officials said on Sunday they were trying to find the ship responsible for the spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up.

Naqoura mayor Abbas Awada said on Friday that the Israeli leak damaged the small seaside town, famous for its clean beaches.

“We should act quickly to clean the oil spill,” he said, describing what happened as an “environmental crime.”

The mayor said the leak has blackened most of the southern shores.

Early this week, caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe said he would request from the UN to assist in dealing with this environmental crisis.

“There is an Israeli silence on the causes of what happened. The UN should request from Israel to uncover the amount of oil spill,” he said.

Also, President Michel Aoun followed up on available data concerning the oil spill and on measures, which must be taken to limit its negative impact on the Lebanese coast, especially after the appearance of sporadic black spots, on the southern coast of Ramle Al-Bayda.



Remains of 30 People Believed Killed by ISIS Found in Syria in a Search by Qatar and FBI 

 Journalist James Foley responds to questions during an interview with The Associated Press, in Boston, May 27, 2011. (AP)
Journalist James Foley responds to questions during an interview with The Associated Press, in Boston, May 27, 2011. (AP)
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Remains of 30 People Believed Killed by ISIS Found in Syria in a Search by Qatar and FBI 

 Journalist James Foley responds to questions during an interview with The Associated Press, in Boston, May 27, 2011. (AP)
Journalist James Foley responds to questions during an interview with The Associated Press, in Boston, May 27, 2011. (AP)

The remains of 30 people believed to have been killed by the ISIS group have been found in a remote Syrian town in a search led by Qatari search teams and the FBI, according to a statement from Qatar on Monday.

The Qatari internal security forces said the FBI had requested the search, and that DNA tests are currently underway to determine the identities of the people. The Qatari agency did not whom the American intelligence and security agency is trying to find.

Dozens of foreigners, including aid workers and journalists, were killed by ISIS militants who had controlled large swaths of Syria and Iraq for half a decade. The extremist group lost most of its territory in late 2017 and was declared defeated in 2019.

Since then, dozens of gravesites and mass graves have been discovered in northern Syria containing remains and bodies of people ISIS had abducted over the years.

American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, as well as humanitarian workers Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig are among those killed by ISIS.

John Cantlie, a British correspondent, was abducted alongside Foley in 2012, and was last seen alive in one of the extremist group's propaganda videos in 2016.

The search took place in the town of Dabiq, near Syria's northern border with Türkiye.

Mass graves have also found in areas previously controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who was ousted in a lightning insurgency last December, ending his family's half-century rule. For years, the Assads used their notorious security and intelligence agencies to crack down on dissidents, many who have gone missing.

The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared during the peaceful uprising that began in 2011 and descended into a 13-year civil war.