Firefighters in south Lebanon and residents have accused the Israeli military of deliberately starting wildfires in areas affected by recent fighting. They say blazes have been sparked by Israeli bombing, including the dropping of flares and incendiary munitions. On Tuesday, the head of the civil defence in the Nabatieh region, Hussein Fakih, said a flare set fire to a wooded area outside Khiam. Firefighters moved to put out the flames, he said, but a drone struck nearby, forcing them to retreat. Fakih said woodland near the frontline had been heavily damaged. “Most of our missions are now related to fires. There are enormous areas of woodland that have burned,” he said, adding that in areas close to the frontline “around 30-40% of the land has been affected by fires”. Flares and drone halt firefightingFakih said the Israeli military has caused fires across south Lebanon, particularly in olive groves and agricultural land. He linked the incidents to the period since the 17 June ceasefire, which largely halted fighting between Hezbollah and Israel. First responders and residents described similar blazes being ignited in dry scrub and wooded areas following Israeli strikes. Videos and testimony from firefighters were cited as evidence for the claims. The Israeli military was asked to comment on each wildfire incident but did not respond. Wildfires after June ceasefireFakih said the pattern began shortly after the ceasefire and has continued daily. He described drones dropping incendiary materials and said white phosphorus shells were fired at woodlands, alongside illumination flares released during daylight hours. On Friday, Israeli munitions created large wildfires in two heavily forested locations, according to civil defence officials and local accounts. One was in Kfarchouba near the border, and the other lay between Jezzine and the western Bekaa valley. Samir Hardan, the civil defence station chief, said a fire near Kfarchouba began on Friday afternoon after a drone dropped a munition in woodlands. He said firefighters battled the blaze overnight and put it out on Saturday, before a second drone started another fire on Sunday. Hardan said firefighters were required to coordinate with the Lebanese army, which relays requests to a “deconfliction” group including the Israeli military. He said permission to fight fires was granted for only two locations, not all areas where flames were burning. Environmental groups cite long-running patternEnvironmental groups said the fires fit a long-standing Israeli approach of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment. They warned that repeated burning threatens the country’s forests and biodiversity. Hisham Younes, founder of the Lebanese conservation organisation Green Southerners, said the affected areas include long-established woodland dominated by stone pine and oak. He said the wider region is also a passage and resting ground for migratory birds. Younes described the attacks as “ecocide”, saying they form part of a wider pattern that degrades Lebanon’s ecosystem through munitions, fire and chemicals. He said the impact was not limited to individual incidents, but could undermine an ecosystem’s ability to regenerate and sustain life. Ecologists and rights groups have previously argued that widespread environmental destruction would have broader effects on civilian populations. Yaroun residents mourn destroyed grovesAlongside the firefighting accounts, residents described losses of green spaces tied to their livelihoods and home areas. On 1 August, displaced residents of Yaroun, a border village, said Israeli troops set their olive and fruit groves alight, as well as their homes. People living in nearby Christian towns of Rmeich and Aïn Ebel—among the few border villages not emptied out by the Israeli military—also sent pictures of fires, according to local accounts. Hafez Ghasham, mayor of Yaroun, said the village had already been bulldozed before the fires were set. “They had already bulldozed the whole village. Then they set fire to the trees,” he said, adding that large, old olive groves were damaged and the flames spread along the village edges. Ghasham said that after previous bulldozing, only about 20 of the 900 houses in Yaroun remained before displacement. He said residents pooled resources to buy expensive satellite imagery of the village during their time away, and described the fires as part of efforts to make the land uninhabitable. In the wider conflict, which began on 8 October 2023 after Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel in solidarity with the Hamas-led attacks, Israel has repeatedly targeted Lebanon’s woodlands. The Israeli military has said in the past that Hezbollah used forested areas as cover for fighters and tunnels. It has also previously used trebuchets to fling flaming debris over the border wall in summer 2024, and Lebanese army officials have published images of Israeli drones carrying hoses used to douse forests with flammable materials. Health and environmental experts raised concerns in February after Israeli planes dropped herbicides linked to cancer on farms in south Lebanon. Join the discussion? 12 August 2026
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