The Israeli air fighters attacked, last year, the Jiyeh facilities located 28 Km to the south of Beirut. More than 10 thousand tons of fuel oil spilled in the water of the Mediterranean Sea, from Jiyeh up to the north till the shores of Syria, to form one of the worst environmental disasters the Lebanese coast has suffered.

Of course, that is not all I remember from the July 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon; I live in south Lebanon, and bombings on our village was intense and some of it barely 100 meters away from our house. I lost a few good friends and neighbors in this war, my brother was injured and my father’s shop damaged; Back then, everyone - those who stayed in town - were constantly dodging air raids, moving from one place to another, trying to help people under the rubbles. It is called a war, but from my experience, it seemed like a trail of endless human sufferings.

Anyway, the war was over, and the Lebanese people and their friends had 3 major concerns:
- Rebuilding what is destroyed.
- Removing cluster bombs: almost a million of these extremely damaging bombs were thrown on us!
- Mitigating the oil spill impacts.

Greenpeace started, under the coordination of the Ministry of Environment and other organizations, the assessment and evaluation of the oil spill disaster, and helping in the oil spill cleanup and finding solutions. The “Rainbow Warrior” visited Lebanon to help in this issue, especially underwater with divers, and ran operations for three weeks until more material and vessels arrived. I remember seeing the ship in Beirut, but did not have the chance to get aboard….

Now, after one year, after all the cleanup efforts, some bags are still lying on some of our beaches, waiting to be handled, and risking to melt and spread in the water again, due to the summer warm sun.

In this first anniversary of the oil spill disaster, and as part of the “Defending Our Mediterranean” campaign, Greenpeace published a report and a short video about the Lebanon oil spill, stating the updates after one year, showing the other threats that endanger our sea, and of course the suggested solutions: Marine Reserves.

The waters of the Mediterranean Sea takes almost a 100 years to renew - because it is almost a closed sea – and this make it more fragile and requires more attention and more care.

You can watch the Video and read the report here: One year on Lebanon oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea.

You can join our “Mediterranean Defenders” list to receive updates and an Action Plan to help : Signup the Mediterranean Sea photo petition (if you dont have a related image, you can still sign up with just comments)

Whether you live on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, or you just spend a summer holiday on its beautiful coasts, or even just love Mediterranean food, you can help to save and protect the Mediterranean Sea, so you can continue to enjoy it.

The last war was not the first in the region, and unfortunately, maybe it will not the last, but like a UN envoy said after the cease fire:"I never seen a country recover that fast after such a war"… Our Mediterranean Sea needs recovery as well, it needs support and protection. Marine Reserves will provide that.

Greenpeace has offered to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) the use of the Rainbow Warrior for transporting much-needed supplies to Lebanon. The vessel was already in the Mediterranean and has now docked in Larnaca, Cyprus for loading medical supplies.

“We understood that there were major difficulties for humanitarian organisations such as MSF in getting bulk supplies quickly from Cyprus to Beirut,” says Bruno Rebelle, programme director of Greenpeace International. “We are very happy that we can contribute to a temporary solution to these problems as we are, like everyone else, deeply concerned about the consequences of the fighting in the Middle-East for the civilian population.”

MSF currently has almost 100 tonnes of medical materials and other relief supplies waiting for transport in a warehouse in Larnaca, with another 80 tonnes scheduled to arrive there soon. Though some of the supplies get through to Beirut, the bulk of them are stuck in the absence of sufficient transport capacity. Very few boats are available for sailing to Lebanon as there is little guarantee for safe passage.

“We have two major transportation problems,” says Jerome Oberreit, operational director for MSF in Brussels. “To date it has been very difficult to move large volumes of relief goods from Beirut to southern Lebanon by road. We rely on cars which we stack with boxes to drive along the severely damaged and insecure road to Tyre; trucks have been hit by missiles so truck drivers are reluctant to move into the southern region. On top of that, we have major problems in getting our materials to Beirut quickly enough. In the short term, the offer from Greenpeace means a partial solution of one of our two problems.”

The Rainbow Warrior has capacity for transporting 40 tonnes, equivalent to 105 pallets. It is not clear yet how many rotations the vessel will make for MSF.

Medecins Sans Frontieres has around 30 international staff working in areas in Lebanon that are severely affected by the conflict. The emphasis in MSF’s activities is on supporting Lebanese health workers, setting up additional health posts and mobile clinics where necessary, and distributing basic materials (shelter, hygiene kits, cooking utensils, baby powder milk) to displaced families.