The residents of the town of Kafrhazir al-Koura petitioned the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water, Defense and Agriculture. The petition, which was signed by hundreds of Kafrhazir residents, stated the following:
We draw your attention to this petition, pointing out that the quarries dug by the National Land Company and Hulim have caused great environmental damage to the nature of the town, its crops, its wealth of springs and groundwater, and also caused serious health damage to the people of our town and the other villages of Koura. We also draw your attention to the fact that these quarries have changed the heritage of the town and the natural and removed the mountains and turned them into desert land and ruled the cultivation of figs and grapes and caused the most catastrophic damage, and these quarries exist and contrary to the decree of the organization of quarries and fractures in the wrong place because they are located above the course of the river Asfour And over the springs of the historic town and between the olive groves and forests have removed a large part of the village’s embarrassment and destroyed tens of thousands of perennial oak trees, and continues to destroy this embarrassment barbaric. It also removed the Ein Eqqash, Al-Zaroub and Jabal Al-Shamais. These quarries are located above the watercourses and adjacent to the springs. This constitutes a blatant violation of the decree of the organization of quarries and crackers. These quarries are also located within an area classified as built-up land and there is no right to dig quarries there.
These quarries release toxic dust saturated with aluminum silicate and calcium silicate, which eliminates the health of our people and causes them various diseases.
The great damage to the springs of the town in the Ein Ayqash valley is the best evidence of this environmental crime. Many of these springs were buried, as did other springs. It is noteworthy that the water of the spring of Ain-iqash has increased significantly since the beginning of the end of the spring, unlike in the past where there was scarcity in early September, and we link between the existence of these quarries and the recent severe damage since there is no new explanation of this damage only this quarrel Directly above the springs.
Therefore, we hope that you:
First: the immediate and final settlement of the quarries of these two companies in the area of Kafrhazir real estate.
Second: Punishing the perpetrators under Article 64 of the Lebanese Environmental Law.
Third: To instruct the National Council of Quarries and Crushers to: (a) Not to grant any licenses to these quarries again,
(B) To compel these two companies to reclaim, rehabilitate and reforest these quarries.
