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Cyprus warns of ecological disaster of Lebanon's oil spill
8/8/2006 10:09

A Cypriot minister urged the European Union on Monday to confront a possible ecological disaster of oil spill in Lebanon due to Israeli bombing.

If the oil spill could not be dealt with promptly at the moment, it would create a big problem, said Cypriot Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment Fotis Fotiou.

"Maybe at this moment we have not seen oil spill in our waters...but we do care about the ecological catastrophe already caused in the area," Fotiou said.

"We must not forget the Mediterranean is a closed basin and sooner or later the ecological catastrophe will affect us too.

"Fotiou has asked Finnish Minister of Environment whose country holds rotating presidency of the European Union to convene a special meeting to tackle the issue.

Israel launched a massive assault against Lebanese Hezbollah on July 12 following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack.

Israeli jets hit storage tanks at the Jiyyeh plant south of the Lebanese capital Beirut at the beginning of the conflict, spilling an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 ton of oil into the Mediterranean, according to the United Nations Environment Program.



Xinhua News