The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution demanding that Israel pays $856.4 million to Lebanon in compensation for the oil slick caused by an Israeli airstrike on July 15th, 2006, during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.
161 countries from the General Assembly voted in favor of the resolution, 8 countries, including Israel and the United States, objected, and 7 other countries abstained.
The resolution affirmed that “Israel bears the responsibility to pay immediate compensation to the government of Lebanon and to other countries that were directly affected by the oil spill, such as Syria, whose beaches were partially polluted.”
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has been tasked with reporting on the implementation of this resolution during the next session of the General Assembly in September 2022.
That raid had led at the time to the destruction of oil storage tanks in the immediate vicinity of the Jiyeh power plant in Lebanon.
On July 12th, 2006, Israel launched massive attacks on Lebanon in response to Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers.
The aggression, which lasted 33 days, did not only target Hezbollah but Lebanon’s infrastructure, including factories and bridges, as well as residential areas. One million Lebanese were displaced, over a thousand were killed, 3000 were wounded, most of them civilians.
