UN urges Israel to repay Lebanon $850mn in oil spill damages

The US General Assembly has nearly unanimously approved a resolution urging Israel to pay Lebanon some $850mn compensation to cover the clean-up cost of an oil spill caused in 2006 by the IDF jets attack on oil storage tanks during the war with Hezbollah.

The UNGA assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the non-binding resolution. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted against the motion.

Taking into account the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which in principle requires the polluter to pay environmental damage costs, the assembly found Israel guilty of the July 15, 2006 environmental disaster.

The disaster was caused by the Israeli Air Force strike on the oil storage tanks in the direct vicinity of the Jiyeh electric power plant in Lebanon. As a result an oil slick covered the Lebanese coastline entirely, stretching all the way to the Syrian coastline.