"An oil slick, caused by the destruction of the Jiyyeh power utility 30km south of Beirut after being struck by Israeli bombs, is now reported to be affecting up to 80 km of the Lebanese coastline and threatening the Syrian one too.

Achim Steiner, a UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP's Executive Director, said requests of assistance from the government of Lebanon were being responded to by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC).

REMPEC, administered by the UN International Maritime Organization and part UNEP's Regional Seas Network, is giving advice to the Lebanese Ministry of the Environment on how to tackle the heavy fuel oil slick."