Conflict Incident Report

Residents of the Bekaa valley town of Barr Elias Sunday blocked the flow of the polluted Litani River with debris to protest its contamination, state media reported.

Locals who claim that the pollution of the river has caused an outbreak of cancer in the area said their move came because solutions to reduce pollution were not provided, the National News Agency said.

Clogging the river would force it to flood the surrounding plains with sewage, it added.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri Friday discussed with ministers and high-ranking officials a plan to reduce Litani River pollution in West Bekaa.

Friday’s meeting, which was attended by Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, Information Minister Jamal Jarrah, Energy and Water Minister Cesar Abi Khalil, among other senior officials, discussed the means to reduce the pollution of Litani River, including the treatment of contaminated water that feed into it.

Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ghassan Hasbani was tasked with following up on the contamination of irrigation channels and water supplies in the Bekaa Valley town of Qubb Elias.

Another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday to further discuss the problem of pollution caused by industrial facilities established at the river basin.

In October 2016, Lebanon's Parliament passed a law that will help facilitate clean-up efforts of the river from its source in the Bekaa Valley to its estuary in south Lebanon.

The heavily polluted river has since underwent a series of clean up campaigns and still awaits the construction of waste water treatment plants.

The World Bank in July also approved a $55-million loan to preserve the river and the man-made Qaraoun reservoir, which the Litani passes through in the West Bekaa district.