Southern Lebanon faces widespread environmental destruction and targeted risks to agricultural workers as near-daily military strikes persist along the border. Since hostilities escalated following the events of October 7, 2023, ongoing conflict has displaced over one million people, caused nearly 9,000 deaths, and injured more than 30,500 individuals, predominantly in the country’s southern regions, according to documented regional reports.
Agricultural Devastation and Environmental Impact
The agricultural borderland, historically part of the fertile crescent, has seen roughly a quarter of its cultivated land severely damaged or destroyed. Operations involving airstrikes, shelling, and heavy machinery have flattened villages, burned tobacco and olive groves to ash, and decimated livestock flocks. Environmental advocates and Lebanese officials note that the sustained use of white phosphorus munitions, unexploded ordnance, and chemical agents like glyphosate has poisoned local ecosystems, leading Lebanon’s environment minister and various regional observers to characterize the systematic destruction as ecocide.
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Ghassan Makarem, an organizer with the Lebanese food sovereignty organization AgriMovement, stated that approximately 70 percent of families in the south rely on farming for their livelihoods. Makarem noted that the widespread destruction of small-scale subsistence farms targeting olives, tobacco, and goats forms part of a broader humanitarian crisis affecting the region.
Risks Facing Land and Environmental Defenders
Local farmers, shepherds, beekeepers, and environmental volunteers face heightened danger due to their continuous presence on the land. Julia Choucair Vizoso, a senior fellow at the Arab Reform Initiative and researcher for The Public Source, explained that authorities have historically targeted individuals who refuse to leave contested agricultural areas, viewing their connection to the land as a form of resistance.
Among those impacted is Oussama Farhat, a 41-year-old farmer and volunteer with the environmental organization Green Southerners based in Meiss el-Jabal, located roughly 700 yards from the UN-demarcated Blue Line. Farhat participated in rescue operations for local wildlife, mapped bird habitats along the eastern Mediterranean flyway, documented illegal logging, and photographed regional flora and fauna. Following the outbreak of intensive bombings, Farhat’s responsibilities expanded to include field documentation of white phosphorus strikes.
On April 25, 2025, Farhat sustained shrapnel wounds while checking for casualties following an initial explosion—an incident later identified as a double-tap strike involving a subsequent blast in the same location. Despite being discharged from the hospital with remaining shrapnel in his body, Farhat returned to his village to tend to rescued animals and monitor local conditions. He was killed the following day.
https://x.com/GreenSoutherns/status/1915788251597615504
Environmental damage and farming losses in southern Lebanon
What areas of Lebanon have sustained the most severe environmental damage?
Southern Lebanon, particularly agricultural border regions near the Blue Line such as Meiss el-Jabal, has experienced the heaviest concentration of airstrikes, shelling, and land degradation.
How have farming communities been affected by the ongoing conflict?
An estimated 25 percent of cultivated land has been destroyed or rendered unusable. The loss of olive groves, livestock, and infrastructure has heavily impacted families dependent on small-scale subsistence farming.
What role do environmental organizations play in southern Lebanon?
Groups like Green Southerners engage in wildlife rescue, habitat mapping, and documentation of munitions usage and environmental impacts resulting from military operations in the border zone.
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