Environment Minister Tamara Elzein has condemned what she called “ecocide” in the south, accusing Israel’s army of “deliberately” burning swathes of Lebanese land.
CNRS director Chadi Abdallah told AFP “fires were limited to the border strip” during the 2023-2024 hostilities, but have broadened since the conflict reignited this year.
He accused the Israeli army of “systematically burning land” and of “trying to create a buffer zone devoid of homes, people and the natural environment”.
“During the previous war, around 8,500 hectares (85 square kilometres) of land was burnt,” Abdallah said, while this year, “the Israelis have burnt around 7,500 hectares”, including 350 hectares after the June deal.
CNRS satellite imagery showed formerly green areas that have now disappeared due to fires, as well as Israel’s bulldozing and uprooting of vegetation.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency this month said Israeli forces had uprooted 600 olive trees in one southern village alone.
Lebanese environmental group Green Southerners says it has recorded widespread damage to forest, woods and farmland since 2023.
This month, it warned that “major nature reserves in southern Lebanon have also been subjected to extensive and repeated destruction”.
In Shaqra, Qoteish lamented the environmental losses.
“Demolished homes maybe can be rebuilt in a year, but trees don’t grow back” so quickly, he said.