Since the 17 June ceasefire that mostly ended fighting between Hezbollah and Israel, the Israeli military has been systematically setting fires across south Lebanon using incendiary drones, white phosphorus shells, and illumination flares dropped in daylight. The campaign targets woodlands, olive groves, and agricultural land. When firefighters attempt to respond, drone strikes force them to withdraw. The head of civil defence in Nabatieh, Hussein Fakih, reports that 30-40% of land near the frontline has been affected by fires, and that incendiary attacks have occurred daily since the ceasefire. The operational pattern is precise. On Tuesday, flares were dropped in a wooded area outside Khiam; when firefighters moved in, a drone struck nearby, forcing retreat. Near Kfarchouba on Friday, a drone-dropped munition ignited woodlands. After overnight firefighting extinguished the blaze by Saturday, a second drone restarted the fire on Sunday. Civil defence station chief Samir Hardan confirmed the sequence. Firefighters must coordinate movements through the Lebanese army, which relays requests to a deconfliction group including the Israeli military — which then granted permission to fight fires at only two spots while blazes raged elsewhere. The fires are part of a longer arc of environmental destruction. Israeli troops used trebuchets — medieval catapults — to fling flaming debris over the border wall in summer 2024. The Lebanese army published photos of Israeli drones fitted with hoses to douse forests in flammable materials. In February 2026, Israeli planes dropped herbicides linked to cancer on south Lebanese farms. Hisham Younes, founder of the conservation group Green Southerners, calls it ecocide — a pattern of attacks on stone pine and oak woodlands that serve as critical habitat for migratory birds. The destruction extends beyond forests. On 1 August, displaced residents of the border village of Yaroun discovered their olive and fruit groves, along with their homes, had been set ablaze by occupying Israeli troops. All but 20 of Yaroun's 900 houses had already been bulldozed in previous months. Residents had pooled resources to buy satellite imagery of their village during displacement. Mayor Hafez Ghasham described the burning of large groves of ancient olive trees inherited from grandparents — trees that were both livelihood and cultural heritage. The Israeli military's stated rationale — that Hezbollah used forested areas as cover for fighters and tunnels — does not account for the post-ceasefire timing, the targeting of agricultural land and olive groves, or the obstruction of firefighting operations. The military did not respond to requests for comment on individual incidents. Environmental groups and rights organizations warn that the fires, combined with bulldozing and herbicide spraying, constitute a systematic rendering of territory uninhabitable. Younes frames the destruction as cumulative and strategic: "It is not about any single fire or attack, but a pattern of destruction that progressively erodes the ability of ecosystems to function, regenerate and sustain life." When ecological collapse undermines livelihoods and the ability to return to land, environmental destruction merges with territorial transformation. Ghasham put it more plainly: "They are trying to make the land uninhabitable. They are erasing our entire history, our entire culture, all our memories. Maybe the idea is that after some time, it will look as though nobody had ever lived here."
