Israel yet to pay for 2006 damages in Lebanon: UN

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has told the UN General Assembly that Israel has yet to assume its responsibility to compensate Lebanon for the environmental and material damages caused by the Jewish state during its 2006 war against Hizbollah.

In a report to the 192-member assembly, he said there was no progress in the cleaning of the Lebanese coast from the oil spill following the Israeli bombing of el Jiyeh power plant during the war because of Israel's refusal to pay compensation to Lebanon.

The secretary-general report does not identify the amount required for the massive clean-up operations, but press reports put the price tag at $1 billion based on World Bank appraisals.