{"id":27046,"date":"2026-08-12T09:31:31","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27046"},"modified":"2026-08-12T09:31:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:31:31","slug":"pozhezhi-pivden-livanu-zayavy-izrayil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/pozhezhi-pivden-livanu-zayavy-izrayil\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese firefighters have accused Israel of deliberately setting fire to forests in the south"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">Firefighters, residents and environmental organisations in southern Lebanon claim that the Israeli military is causing fires in forests, olive groves and agricultural land. On Tuesday, near Khiam, according to the head of Nabatieh\u2019s civil defence, Hussein Fakih, flares were dropped, causing a fire, whilst a drone strike nearby forced rescue workers to retreat.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Near Khiam, firefighters left the scene of the fire after a drone crashed nearby.<\/li>\n<li>Rescue workers have been recording fires since the ceasefire came into effect on 17 June.<\/li>\n<li>In Kfar Shub, another fire broke out after the first one had been put out.<\/li>\n<li>Environmentalists are warning of the harm caused to forests, birds and local incomes.<\/li>\n<li>In Yaruna, a fire has engulfed the olive and fruit groves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Fire-fighting operations near Khiam were suspended following an explosion nearby<\/h2>\n<p>Fakih reported that the majority of his service\u2019s call-outs are now related specifically to fires. According to his rough estimate, fires have affected 30\u201340% of land in areas near the front line, although the civil defence authorities do not have precise figures.<\/p>\n<p>According to Fakih, following the cessation of active <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/hezbolla-vidkidaye-peremirya-livan-boi\/\">military operations<\/a> Since 17 June, clashes between Hezbollah and Israel have been occurring almost daily. He cited among the sources of the fires the dropping of flammable materials from small drones, white phosphorus munitions and flares dropped during the day onto vegetation.<\/p>\n<h2>In Kfar Shub, rescue workers were only allowed to operate at two locations<\/h2>\n<p>Firefighters and residents of other areas in the south of the country have also reported fires breaking out in dry scrubland, forests, olive groves and farmland following strikes by munitions and drones. On Friday, major fires broke out in the wooded areas of Kfar Shouba near the border and between Jezzine and the western Bekaa Valley.<\/p>\n<p>Samir Khardan, head of the local civil defence station, said that the fire near Kfar Shuba broke out on Friday after a drone dropped a munition. Rescue workers battled the blaze overnight and brought it under control on Saturday, but on Sunday, he said, another drone caused a new fire to break out.<\/p>\n<p>Civil defence units must coordinate their movements through the Lebanese Army, which forwards requests to a deconfliction team involving Israeli military personnel. Hardan said that permission to extinguish the fires had been granted in only two locations, whilst the fires continued to burn in other areas.<\/p>\n<h2>Environmentalists are speaking out about deforestation and the risks to biodiversity<\/h2>\n<p>Environmental groups describe the current fires as part of the long-term damage to the natural environment in southern Lebanon. Hisham Younes, founder of the environmental organisation Green Southerners, has described these actions as \u00abecocide\u00bb and said that the destruction is gradually undermining the ability of ecosystems to recover and sustain life.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the affected areas contain ancient forests with productive stone pine and oak. This territory is also an important migration route and resting place for migratory birds. Younes linked the degradation of ecosystems to the loss of livelihoods and to people\u2019s ability to return to and remain on their land.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of hostilities on 8 October 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/izrail-udar-tyr-livan-2026\/\">Israel has carried out strikes on numerous occasions<\/a> in the forested areas of Lebanon. The Israeli military had previously stated that Hezbollah was using the forests to conceal fighters and tunnels. In 2024, Israeli troops used catapults to hurl burning debris over the border wall, whilst the Lebanese army published photos of drones equipped with hoses designed to spray flammable substances.<\/p>\n<h2>Yarun has lost the groves that were both his inheritance and a source of income<\/h2>\n<p>On 1 August, displaced residents of the border town of Yarun found olive and fruit groves and houses engulfed in flames. Residents of the neighbouring Christian towns of Rmeish and Ain Ebel, which had not been completely evacuated, sent photographs of the fires.<\/p>\n<p>The mayor of Yarun, Hafez Gasham, said that prior to this, the Israeli military had used bulldozers to demolish all but 20 of the village\u2019s 900 homes. Whilst they were being relocated, the community raised funds for expensive satellite imagery to monitor the situation in Yarun.<\/p>\n<p>According to the mayor, the fire started in the area of the large, old olive groves and spread to the outskirts of the village. Most of these trees had been passed down to the families by their parents and grandparents; they were not only of personal value to the people, but also an important source of income.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Environmentalists describe the fires in southern Lebanon as part of the ongoing destruction of ecosystems, which threatens forests, birds and local communities\u2019 livelihoods.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433346,"featured_media":27045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"\u0415\u043a\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0433\u0438 \u043d\u0430\u0437\u0438\u0432\u0430\u044e\u0442\u044c \u043f\u043e\u0436\u0435\u0436\u0456 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041b\u0456\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0443 \u0447\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438\u043d\u043e\u044e \u0442\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0430\u043b\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0440\u0443\u0439\u043d\u0443\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044f \u0435\u043a\u043e\u0441\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0435\u043c, \u0449\u043e \u0437\u0430\u0433\u0440\u043e\u0436\u0443\u0454 \u043b\u0456\u0441\u0430\u043c, \u043f\u0442\u0430\u0445\u0430\u043c \u0456 \u0434\u043e\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0430\u043c \u0433\u0440\u043e\u043c\u0430\u0434.","rank_math_title":"\u041f\u043e\u0436\u0435\u0436\u0456 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041b\u0456\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0443: \u0443 \u0447\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0437\u0432\u0438\u043d\u0443\u0432\u0430\u0447\u0443\u044e\u0442\u044c \u0406\u0437\u0440\u0430\u0457\u043b\u044c","rank_math_focus_keyword":"\u043f\u043e\u0436\u0435\u0436\u0456 \u043d\u0430 \u043f\u0456\u0432\u0434\u043d\u0456 \u041b\u0456\u0432\u0430\u043d\u0443","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[806812],"class_list":["post-27046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-blyzkyi-skhid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27047,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27046\/revisions\/27047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}