BEIRUT: A “mountain of garbage” dumped at sea off Beirut under a deal between the government and a company has sparked outrage in Lebanon, two years after mass protests over a waste crisis.
For the past 10 days, civil society groups have shared images of trucks carrying rubbish and tipping it into the Mediterranean, a process that is ongoing.
Activists say the waste from the “mountain of garbage” at Borj Hammoud in north Beirut is disposed of under an agreement between the government’s Development and Reconstruction Council (CDR) and a private company.
“They are taking garbage from this mountain that has been there for 20 years... and throwing it into the sea,” said Wadih Al-Asmar, an activist from the “You Stink” campaign behind the protests in 2015.
Environment Minister Tarek Al-Khatib on Tuesday confirmed the existence of an agreement between the CDR and a private firm to dump the waste at sea.
Khatib said he had sent letters to the CDR to “rectify” the situation and that he was trying to find the “best way to limit” the damage.
But activists vented their anger on social media, branding the situation “shameful.”
“Waste is thrown into the open sea and the environment minister justifies it... he gives them the green light,” said the You Stink campaign.
Asmar, the campaign activist, denounced the disposal of the garbage at sea without any treatment, saying it was “killing the marine ecosystem.”
Lebanon experienced a major waste crisis in mid-2015, with garbage piling up in the streets of Beirut and its surroundings after the closure of the country’s main landfill.
This crisis triggered mass protests, with many taking aim at politicians in a country that has suffered endemic corruption since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
In 2016, the government decided to reopen the landfill and to create two more dumps, one in Borj Hammoud next to the “mountain of garbage” whose stench fills the air in the capital’s northern suburbs.
Garbage dumped in sea off Lebanon sparks outrage
Garbage dumped in sea off Lebanon sparks outrage
French ministers in Lebanon for talks month into Israel-Hezbollah truce
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu met with Lebanon’s army chief Joseph Aoun, and on Tuesday are due to visit UN peacekeepers near the Israeli border.
A Lebanese army statement on social media said that Aoun and the visiting ministers discussed “ways to strengthen cooperation relations between the armies of the two countries and to continue support for the army in light of current circumstances.”
Aoun, who is being touted as a possible candidate for Lebanon’s president, has been tasked with deploying troops in the south of the country since the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire came into effect on November 27.
Lecornu said on X that he is also due to meet with a French general representing Paris “within the ceasefire monitoring mechanism.”
“Our armies are, and will remain, committed to the stability of Lebanon and the region,” he said.
The monitoring body brings together Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and the United Nations’ UNIFIL peacekeeping mission. It is meant to support the implementation of the ceasefire and assess violations.
On Thursday, UNIFIL said it was “concerned” by “the continued destruction” carried out by the Israeli army in southern Lebanon, despite the truce.
Lecornu and Barrot are scheduled to meet on Tuesday with French soldiers deployed with UNIFIL in south Lebanon.
Israel must face consequences over Gaza campaign: UN experts
- “Israel continues to face no real consequences, largely due to protection offered by its allies”
- Israel has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable
- The experts highlighted alleged crimes against humanity committed by Israel “including murder, torture, sexual violence, and repeated forced displacement amounting to forcible transfer”
GENEVA: United Nations rights experts on Monday said Israel must face the consequences of “inflicting maximum suffering” on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, alleging Israel was defying international law and being sheltered by its allies.
“International humanitarian law comprises a set of universal and binding rules to protect civilian objects and persons who are not, or are no longer, directly participating in hostilities and limits permissible means and methods of warfare,” the 11 experts said in a joint statement.
“Rather than abide by these rules, Israel has openly defied international law time and again, inflicting maximum suffering on civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.
“Israel continues to face no real consequences, largely due to protection offered by its allies.”
The Gaza war was triggered by the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
That resulted in 1,208 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
The experts highlighted alleged crimes against humanity committed by Israel “including murder, torture, sexual violence, and repeated forced displacement amounting to forcible transfer.”
They also noted alleged war crimes including “indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects... the use of starvation as a weapon of war” and “collective punishment.”
They said civilians were protected persons and did not constitute military objectives under international law.
“Acts aimed at their destruction in whole or in part are genocidal,” they added.
The experts called for urgent, independent and thorough investigations into alleged serious violations of international law.
“Israel’s continued impunity sends a dangerous message... Israel and its leaders must be held accountable,” they said.
The experts said they were particularly alarmed by Israel’s operations in the northern Gaza Strip.
Since October 6 this year, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north, with officials saying their land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
“This siege, coupled with expanding evacuation orders, appears intended to permanently displace the local population as a precursor to Gaza’s annexation,” the experts said.
UN rights experts are independent figures mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not therefore speak for the United Nations itself.
The 11 experts included the special rapporteurs on internally displaced persons; cultural rights; education; physical and mental health; arbitrary executions; the right to food; and protecting rights while countering terrorism.
Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur on the rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, was also among the experts.
Israel has demanded her removal, branding her a “political activist” abusing her mandate “to hide her hatred for Israel.”
Two killed in Gaza as aid convoy looted: WFP
- WFP said “coordinated movement to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners” Sunday “was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of two”
GAZA STRIP: Two people have been killed in northern Gaza as gunmen attacked an aid convoy, the World Food Programme said Monday, prompting Hamas to accuse to UN agency of having failed to coordinate security.
Gazans face dire conditions after nearly 15 months of war, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with humanitarian agencies repeatedly warning not enough aid was reaching Palestinians in need due in part to looting as well as Israeli restrictions.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement that “a coordinated movement to bring in 40 trucks on behalf of humanitarian partners” on Sunday “was faced with violent, armed looting, resulting in the deaths of two.”
“Amidst the armed looting, five trucks of commodities were lost,” it added.
Hamas, the Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that “a catastrophic mistake” by the WFP “claimed the lives of two citizens and injured dozens with bullets.”
“We hold it fully responsible and demand that it not violate the protocol followed regarding coordination to secure aid trucks,” the statement said.
The WFP said in its statement that for the past two weeks, “nearly every movement of aid through crossings in south and central Gaza has resulted in violence, looting and tragic deaths due to attacks and the absence of law and order along convoy routes inside Gaza.”
The organization said that it was still following “procedures of coordination set in place in previous months” and that it had “repeatedly warned of the dangers of movement in the absence of law and order” in the Palestinian territory.
For months, both Israel and aid agencies including the WFP have noted widespread looting by armed gangs, as well as civilians desperate for supplies.
Humanitarian agencies also say the delivery routes they take through Gaza are sometimes blocked by Israeli military activity.
Aid organizations have repeatedly warned of the deteriorating conditions in Gaza, saying civilians are starving and that aid shipments in recent months have been lower than at any time during the war.
East Africa’s IGAD envoy to visit Sudan
- Visit comes a year after the government in Sudan froze relations with the regional bloc and suspended its membership of the body
NAIROBI: The East African bloc bloc’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development envoy to Sudan said Monday he planned a visit to the war-torn country next month where he is trying to act as a mediator. It comes a year after the government in Sudan froze relations with the regional bloc and suspended its membership of the body.
Sudan has been mired in a brutal conflict since April last year, with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — commonly known as Hemeti — fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.
IGAD had repeatedly attempted to mediate between the two warring generals, but to no avail.
In January, the bloc invited Dagalo to a summit in Uganda, prompting a furious response from the Foreign Ministry in the army-aligned government.
It accused IGAD of “violating Sudan’s sovereignty” and setting a “dangerous precedent,” saying it would suspend its membership of the bloc.
IGAD special envoy to Sudan Lawrence Korbandy confirmed on Monday that a visit to Port Sudan was planned in the new year. “I’m visiting them to talk to them about issues related to peace in that country,” he said from Nairobi, declining to give details over who he might meet.
Korbandy said the visit had been scheduled for December before being postponed to January. He labeled the suspension a “minor problem” — noting that Sudan was a founding member of the regional body — and said the proposed visit was “absolutely” a positive step.
“I’m looking for constructive dialogue regarding the peace in Sudan, and most importantly is the return of Sudan’s activities in IGAD,” he added.
“My mandate is to bring peace to the Sudanese people, and there is no other way, only to talk to all the parties in this conflict.”
More than half of Syrian children out of school: Save the Children to AFP
- Overwhelming majority of Syrian children also in need of immediate humanitarian assistance including food
DAMASCUS: About half of school-age children in Syria are missing out on education after nearly 14 years of civil war, Save the Children told AFP on Monday, calling for “immediate action.”
The overwhelming majority of Syrian children are also in need of immediate humanitarian assistance including food, the charity said, with at least half of them requiring psychological help to overcome war trauma.
“Around 3.7 million children are out of school and they require immediate action to reintegrate them in school,” Rasha Muhrez, the charity’s Syria director, told AFP in an interview from the capital Damascus, adding “this is more than half of the children at school age.”
While Syrians have endured more than a decade of conflict, the rapid rebel offensive that toppled president Bashar Assad on December 8 caused further disruption, with the UN reporting more than 700,000 people newly displaced.
“Some of the schools were used as shelters again due to the new wave of displaced people,” Muhrez told AFP.
The war, which began in 2011 after Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, has devastated Syria’s economy and public infrastructure leaving many children vulnerable.
Muhrez said “about 7.5 million children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance.”
“We need to make sure the children can come back to education, to make sure that they have access again to health, to food and that they are protected,” Muhrez said.
“Children were deprived of their basic rights including access to education, to health care, to protection, to shelter,” by the civil war, but also natural disasters and economic crises, she said.
Syria’s war spiralled rapidly from 2011 into a major civil conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
More than one in four Syrians now live in extreme poverty according to the World Bank, with the deadly February 2023 earthquake bringing more misery.
Many children who grew up during the war have been traumatized by the violence, said Muhrez.
“This had a huge impact, a huge traumatic impact on them, for various reasons, for losses: a parent, a sibling, a friend, a house,” she said.
According to Save the Children, around 6.4 million children are in need of psychological help.
Muhrez also warned that “continued coercive measures and sanctions on Syria have the largest impact on the Syrian people themselves.”
Syria has been under strict Western sanctions aimed at Assad’s government, including from the United States and European Union, since early in the war.
On Sunday, Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa expressed hope that the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump would lift sanctions.
“It’s very difficult for us to continue responding to the needs and to reach people in need with limited resources with these restrictive measures,” she said.
