Firefighters, residents, and environmental organizations in southern Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of deliberately igniting wildfires, claiming that military actions, including dropping flares and deploying various munitions, are destroying forests and vital agricultural lands.
These accusations follow a series of blazes in recent weeks, which environmental groups assert are part of a long-standing Israeli strategy to target Lebanon’s natural environment. The Israeli military, when asked for comment on these wildfire incidents, did not respond.
One incident occurred on Tuesday when the Israeli military dropped flares in a wooded area outside Khiam, in south Lebanon, sparking fires. Hussein Fakih, head of the civil defence in the Nabatieh region, reported that when firefighters attempted to extinguish these flames, a drone struck nearby, forcing their withdrawal.
According to testimony from first responders and accompanying videos, the Israeli military has caused fires across south Lebanon, particularly in olive groves and agricultural land, in the nearly two months since the 17 June ceasefire. This ceasefire largely halted fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. Fakih stated, “They started doing this right after the ceasefire, and there have been incendiary bombs every day. Small drones come out and drop incendiary materials, [white] phosphorus shells are fired at the woodlands, in addition to illumination flares that they drop during the daytime so the vegetation catches fire.”
Similar accounts of blazes started by Israeli munitions and drones in dry scrub and woodlands have been reported by firefighters and residents in other parts of south Lebanon. On Friday, Israeli munitions triggered extensive wildfires in two heavily forested areas: one near the border in Kfarchouba, and another between Jezzine and the western Bekaa valley.
Samir Hardan, the civil defence station chief in the Kfarchouba area, detailed that a fire began near Kfarchouba on Friday afternoon after a drone dropped a munition in woodlands. After battling the fires overnight and extinguishing them on Saturday, a second drone initiated another fire on Sunday.
Firefighters in Lebanon are required to coordinate their movements with the Lebanese army, which then relays their requests to a “deconfliction” group that includes the Israeli military. Despite raging fires, permission was granted to fight blazes at only two specific spots, leaving other affected areas unattended.
Environmental groups, including Green Southerners, founded by Hisham Younes, describe these fires as part of a pattern of Israeli attacks on Lebanon’s environment. Younes called these actions an “ecocide,” stating they are part of the military’s strategy to degrade the ecosystem of south Lebanon with munitions, fire, and chemicals. He emphasized, “It is not about any single fire or attack, but a pattern of destruction that progressively erodes the ability of ecosystems to function, regenerate and sustain life. When those cascading effects also undermine livelihoods and people’s ability to return to and remain on their land, environmental destruction becomes inseparable from the wider transformation of the territory itself.” Younes highlighted that these long-established woodlands, dominated by stone pine and oak, perform critical functions and serve as an important passage and resting ground for migratory birds.
Since fighting began on 8 October 2023, when Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with the Hamas-led attack a day earlier, Israel has repeatedly targeted Lebanon’s woodlands. The Israeli military has previously stated that Hezbollah utilized these forested areas as cover for its fighters and tunnels.
Ecologists and rights groups warn that widespread environmental destruction, including fires, will have broader impacts on civilian populations. Past incidents include Israeli troops using trebuchets to fling flaming debris over its border wall with Lebanon in the summer of 2024, and the Lebanese army publishing photos of Israeli drones carrying hoses used to douse forests in flammable materials. In February, health and environmental experts raised concerns when Israeli planes dropped herbicides, linked to cancer, on farms in south Lebanon.
Beyond the environmental and health consequences, residents of south Lebanon are mourning the loss of the green spaces in their villages. On 1 August, displaced residents of the border village of Yaroun discovered their olive and fruit groves, along with their homes, had been set ablaze by occupying Israeli troops. People in nearby Christian towns like Rmeich and Aïn Ebel, among the few border villages not emptied by the Israeli military, also sent pictures of the fires.
Hafez Ghasham, the mayor of Yaroun, recounted, “They had already bulldozed the whole village. Then they set fire to the trees. What remained in this particular area were the olive trees – large groves, with very old olive trees. They started there, then the fire spread along the outskirts of the village.” In previous months, residents of Yaroun had witnessed all but 20 of the village’s 900 houses being bulldozed by the Israeli military, prompting them to pool resources for expensive satellite imagery of their village during their displacement.
Ghasham added, “Many of these trees, most of them, in fact, were inherited from our grandparents and parents. They have enormous sentimental value. The trees were also an important source of income for the people of the village. They are trying to make the land uninhabitable. They are erasing our entire history, our entire culture, all our memories. Maybe the idea is that after some time, it will look as though nobody had ever lived here.”
