Mona Khalil, ‘guardian of the turtles’ of Mansouri, succumbs to injuries after Israeli strike on her home

BEIRUT — She stood firm through two wars, refusing to abandon her home in Mansouri just a few meters from the beach and the sea turtles she watched over for a quarter century.

Environmental activist Mona Khalil, 76, founder of the Orange House Project and a prominent figure in marine turtle protection along the Sour coast, succumbed to her injuries Friday caused by an Israeli strike that directly hit her family home on June 4.

She regained consciousness the day after the attack before her condition gradually deteriorated. She had been hospitalized for two weeks at AUBMC in Beirut, after being transferred from Jabal Amel Hospital in the south, according to Fadia Joumaa, an environmental activist from Sour, contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour. "Doctors tried in vain to save her in recent days," she added.

'Today, I'm living my dream'

A leading figure in wildlife protection in Lebanon, Khalil dedicated more than two decades to saving the sea turtles of the southern coastline. Her commitment began in 1999 when, one night in May on the Mansouri beach, she discovered a turtle laying its eggs. Soon after, she left her career as an art restorer in the Netherlands and settled in the family house located about a hundred meters from the shore, built by her father and where she spent her childhood summers. In 2000, after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, she founded the Orange House Project to protect this nesting site and ensure the survival of the baby turtles until they returned to the sea.

The house, just meters from the beach, was transformed into an eco-guesthouse whose revenues funded the preservation of a 1.4-kilometer stretch of coastline. This stretch of sand, which became her daily field of action, is home to turtle nesting as well as broader biodiversity. Over the years, Khalil became a local environmental reference and the guardian angel of the Mansouri turtles.

"I started with a friend. We were two women, alone. I knew nothing about turtles. I wrote to the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles to ask for help. They sent us a marine biologist who taught us everything. Today, I'm living my dream," she told L'Orient-Le Jour.

She was known for her staunch opposition, over the years, to any projects that threatened to cement "her beach," which had become a sanctuary for sea turtles. She succeeded in having the beach designated as a "hima," a type of reserve managed by individuals and local authorities.

The Israeli strike that wounded and then killed her hit her house directly. The shell landed on the side where her bedroom was, according to witnesses of the strike. "Mona barricaded herself inside her home, letting in no one and believing she was safe because she was a civilian, Fadia Joumaa told us two weeks ago. She absolutely refused to be displaced, and that was truly worthy of someone so determined."

Mansouri is located just north of what the Israelis call the "yellow line," which marks a de facto buffer zone inside which they occupy dozens of villages, but the destruction there is nonetheless immense.