Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. (Credit: Official Lebanese presidential website @LBpresidency)
President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday condemned the spraying by Israeli aircraft of “toxic substances” over fields and orchards in several border villages in southern Lebanon, describing it as “a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty, as well as an environmental and health crime against the Lebanese and their land.”
On Sunday, Israeli aircraft sprayed an unknown chemical substance over several villages in this region, including Aita al-Shaab, Ramieh, and Marwahin in the Bint Jbeil district. The incident was documented by residents, who alerted authorities, and Environment Minister Tamara Elzein on Monday requested the Lebanese Army to collect samples for analysis.
Aoun said this “act of aggression ... is a continuation of the repeated Israeli attacks against Lebanon and its people,” as Israeli assaults continue on an almost daily basis in Lebanon despite the cease-fire that went into effect in November 2024.
He stressed that “these dangerous practices, which target agricultural land, citizens’ livelihoods, and threaten their health and the environment, require the international community and relevant United Nations organizations to assume their responsibility to put an end to these aggressions and to protect Lebanese sovereignty.”
Aoun added that he had asked the Foreign Affairs Ministry “to prepare a documented file, in coordination with the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and Health, in order to take all necessary legal and diplomatic measures to counter this attack and to file complaints with the appropriate international bodies.”
Green Southerners, one of the most active NGOs in southern Lebanon, expressed concern Tuesday over “the use of toxic substances in these border areas, which only adds to the considerable environmental damage already inflicted by the Israelis since October 2023, including the use of white phosphorus and other kinds of munitions that have affected the soil’s nature and biodiversity, especially insects and pollinators.”
In a report published in April 2025, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that more than $700 million in damage and losses had been inflicted on Lebanon’s agricultural sector by the latest war between Hezbollah and Israel, mainly in the South and the Bekaa Valley.
The report noted that the remote assessments were “preliminary and partial,” adding that actual damages are likely to be higher.
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