A house in flames after an Israeli attack on Zawtar Sharqieh, Sept. 22, 2026. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)
A French entrepreneur born in Lebanon has filed a complaint against persons unknown for war crimes or offenses, targeting the Israeli army, which he accuses of uprooting 600 century-old olive trees belonging to his family, his lawyers told AFP on Wednesday.
The 37-year-old denounces the uprooting of trees, some of which he says were half a millennium old, on land cultivated by his family for 250 years in Zawtar Sharqieh, his native village in southern Lebanon. According to his complaint, filed as a civil party for theft, destruction and deterioration of property constituting war crimes or offenses, which AFP was able to review, the trees were uprooted, roots and all.
'Neither a member nor a sympathizer of Hezbollah'
The man, whose complaint states he is "neither a member nor a sympathizer of Hezbollah," suspects the trees were transferred to Israel. "There is no evidence to suggest that Hezbollah was using the house or the agricultural fields as military equipment," the document adds.
According to the plaintiff, a digital entrepreneur, his family home was completely destroyed by an Israeli airstrike just hours before the announcement of a cease-fire, in April 2026, as part of the protocol agreement between Iran and the United States.
"The total takeover of the sector" by the Israeli army occurred a few weeks later, followed by the uprooting of the olive trees, after the signing of a framework agreement at the end of June between Lebanon and Israel, he recalls.
Zawtar Sharqieh is located on the northern bank of the Litani River, and it was at this location that the Israeli army entered the caza of Nabatieh. The locality remains, to this day, the target of strikes and destruction of homes and lands, while the neighboring village of Zawtar Gharbieh is the first "pilot zone" established as a result of the June 2026 framework agreement between Beirut and Tel Aviv: an area in which the Israeli army must provide freedom for the Lebanese Army to deploy and disarm Hezbollah.
Uprooting of olive trees 'symptomatic' of Israeli war crimes
"The destruction and uprooting of olive trees are symptomatic of the war crimes committed by Israel in southern Lebanon," the complaint states, citing in particular a report by Amnesty International.
Lebanese officials, NGOs and residents have already denounced the destruction of agricultural land, particularly by fire, carried out in southern Lebanon by Israel since the start of hostilities with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement in October 2023. Contacted in August about these destructions, the Israeli army said it was "aware of the potential environmental impact of its activities in the region" and that it was taking "precautionary measures to reduce harm to civilians and the environment." AFP contacted the army again on Wednesday.
Other complaints filed in Paris target the actions of the Israeli army in Lebanon, including one by Franco-Lebanese artist Ali Cherri, who lost his parents in April in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Beirut at the end of 2024, and one in July by another French-Lebanese citizen who lost his mother, his sister, and two nephews in Israeli strikes.