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
Turkiye detains 110 suspects in operation targeting Daesh after deadly clash
- In Tuesday’s operation, police carried out raids on 114 addresses in Istanbul and two other provinces, arresting 110 of the total 115 suspects that they sought
ISTANBUL: Turkish police detained 110 suspects in an operation against Daesh on Tuesday, a day after three police officers and six militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkiye, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.
Police conducted an eight-hour siege at a house in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul, a week after more than 100 suspected Daesh members were detained in connection with alleged plans to carry out Christmas and New Year attacks. Eight police officers and another security force member were wounded in the raid on the property, which was one of more than 100 addresses targeted by authorities on Monday.
In Tuesday’s operation, police carried out raids on 114 addresses in Istanbul and two other provinces, arresting 110 of the total 115 suspects that they sought, the prosecutor’s statement said. It said various digital materials and documents were seized.
Turkiye has stepped up operations against suspected Daesh militants this year, as the group returns to prominence globally. The US carried out a strike against the militants in northwest Nigeria last week, while two gunmen who attacked a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach this month appeared to be inspired by Daesh, Australian police have said. On December 19, the US military launched strikes against dozens of Daesh targets in Syria in retaliation for an attack on American personnel.
Almost a decade ago, the jihadist group was blamed for a series of attacks on civilian targets in Turkiye, including gun attacks on an Istanbul nightclub and the city’s main airport, killing dozens of people. Turkiye was a key transit point for foreign fighters, including those of Daesh, entering and leaving Syria during the war there.
Police have carried out regular operations against the group in subsequent years and there have been few attacks since the wave of violence between 2015-2017.
