NEW | Israel spraying cancer-linked herbicide on farms in southern Lebanon
Lebanon says Israel is committing a “health and environmental crime” after its military sprayed glyphosate, a herbicide classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the WHO, over farmland in southern Lebanon.
President Joseph Aoun condemned the act as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty that threatens food security, soil fertility, and farmers’ livelihoods, vowing to take “all necessary legal and diplomatic measures” in response.
The aerial spraying, which followed warnings to UN peacekeepers to take cover, is a broader pattern of ecocide by Israel in the region, reminiscent of its destructive campaigns in Gaza, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon during previous military operations.
Laboratory tests showed glyphosate concentrations 20 to 30 times higher than normal, capable of damaging vegetation, harming ecosystems, and contaminating water and the food chain.
Environmentalists warn the attack compounds decades of ecological devastation in southern Lebanon, where previous Israeli bombardments with white phosphorus, incendiary bombs, and cluster munitions killed thousands, displaced over a million, and left soils polluted with heavy metals.
Experts say these tactics reflect a continuum of colonial-style warfare, in which Israel systematically targets natural resources to destabilize populations and inflict long-term damage on the environment, livelihoods, and food security.