Israel’s scorched earth policy hits southern Lebanon hard

Moussa has no reason to cheer, having lost his orchard of olive, carob, and fig trees, 2,000 avocado seedlings, and 15 dunams (3.7 acres) of wheat and bee hives.

"Since we were displaced, I haven't been able to return to the town," he says. "The uncertainty of whether we are still at war lingers.

"In wartime, fate decides who lives and dies. Our lives are in limbo. We don't know who will compensate us for our losses or when."

The attacks continue to ravage large areas of southern Lebanon, a region that accounts for 37% of the country's agricultural production.

This area's importance is primarily due to its diverse topography, making it Lebanon's most varied agricultural zone.

The southern coastal belt, rich with banana and citrus groves, remains the last bastion of agriculture along the Lebanese coastline.

Moving inland towards the border, farmers cultivate tobacco, olives, and figs, particularly in the highlands of Jabal Amil.

Land of resistance

Being so close to Palestine, southern Lebanon is 'the land of resistance'. There is a strong cultural identity here. People draw both material and symbolic capital from their land, which is a big part of who they are.

With that in mind, the environmental devastation reaches far beyond just its physical manifestations. It goes to the very heart of the south Lebanese people.

Israeli bombs have so far damaged 24 hectares of olive groves with 5,000 trees, some more than 150 years old. Almost 23 further hectares of banana and citrus plantations have been damaged.

The most significant destruction was inflicted on 343.9 hectares of mature pine forests. Israeli shelling, airstrikes (2,200 instances), incendiary flare bombs (107), and phosphorus bombs (73) have all been counted.

Dr Tamara Al-Zein, Secretary-General of the National Council for Scientific Research, describes the situation in southern Lebanon as "environmental genocide".

She says Israel wants to transform the area into a barren warzone, unfit for human settlement or agricultural use.

The International Federation for Human Rights defines a 'scorched earth' policy as a military strategy where any potential aid to the enemy is intentionally destroyed when forces advance or withdraw from an area.

Toxic soil

Dr Al-Zein told Al Majalla that the extent of soil contamination in southern Lebanon is currently uncertain.

Neither the concentration of toxins nor their changing nature over time have been shared. The amount of rainfall could influence the answers.

Dr Hisham Younis of the Green Southerners Association said that white phosphorus, once released into the environment, remains active in the soil for up to several months.

A colleague recently observed smoke coming from a recently disturbed soil sample 20 days after it was exposed to white phosphorus. Unfortunately, this also resulted in the colleague's poisoning!

White phosphorus significantly damages soil health, affecting vital soil components such as microbes and micro-organisms that are essential for nutrient recycling processes like nitrogen fixation and phosphorus mineralisation.

The contamination of soil with phosphorus disrupts these critical nutrient-recycling processes, leading to reduced soil fertility and quality.

The accumulation of phosphoric acid in the soil adversely affects the soil ecosystem in southern Lebanon, poisoning its constituents.

The rehabilitation of the soil to its condition before the attacks will be a long and challenging process over a large territory. From 8-23 October, phosphorus bombing affected border areas of more than 100 sq km.

Younis cites the Labbouneh forest, under phosphorus bombardment for four months, as a deliberate attempt to destroy the ecosystem and inhibit or prevent the regrowth of trees.

In past conflicts, cluster munitions, depleted uranium, and phosphorus have all been used in southern Lebanon.

More than 4 million cluster bombs were deployed during the recent July war. More than one million unexploded ordnances cover an area of 15 sq km, affecting more than 150 villages.

Creatures great and small

Younis says the damage is not just to forests and fields but to the contamination of groundwater reserves, risking water pollution.

This pollution could extend to rivers and seasonal ponds or accumulate in swamps and rocky water basins, all crucial for the hydration of animals and birds, some very rare.

"Right now, we do not have specific data on the impact of this phosphorus campaign on animal life," says Younis. "But we can assert its negative effects on a range of predators, mammals, and both resident and migratory birds."

Casualties include the red fox, Eurasian badgers, and mountain gazelles, which had disappeared from Lebanon in the 1970s and only recently started moving between the southern border and northern Palestine.

Rock hyrax colonies, especially in the Naqoura region, rub along with golden jackals. Both are predatory carnivores and can be particularly active.

Rodents, reptiles, and insects have also been impacted. Many seek refuge in tunnels. If they have been exposed to white phosphorus, they will die either by suffocation or horrific burns.

Migratory birds were impacted by the conflict, says Younis, as their seasonal migration "coincided with the outbreak of war".

These birds typically follow a route from Lebanon to Palestine and then onwards to Egypt, ultimately heading towards Central Africa, but the phosphorus is likely to have affected these migratory birds' airborne route.

Source of identity

For the southern Lebanese, the land is their history, their context, and their defining characteristic.

They are deeply connected to the cycles of the land, whether it be irrigating the soil, harvesting olives, threshing wheat, or just gathering around fires under pomegranate trees.

The land provides refuge, sustenance, and livelihood. Yet, it can also be the theatre of war. The landscape is, therefore, not just physical but emotional.

Sociologist Dr Saeed Najdi thinks Lebanon emerged from a series of agricultural communities shaped by its mountainous terrain, primarily Mount Lebanon, the north, and the south.

"It is the southern region that continues to affirm and reinforce its identity through its bond with the land," says Najdi.

There are "long-standing historical ties to Mount Amil and its role in the formation of the modern Lebanese state," says Najdi.

"This relationship highlights the connection between the southern populace and the Lebanese state."

"From the inception of the southern community, its loyalty has been influenced by the legacy of Jabal Amil, encompassing settlement choices between Syria and Lebanon or alignment with the Acre province."

"Moreover, the south has historically functioned as the commercial conduit of Mount Amil to Palestine. Its strategic location is crucial, with southern Lebanon bordering occupied Palestine, amidst a backdrop of sectarian divisions within Lebanon."

In Lebanon, power and development are centralised towards Beirut and Mount Lebanon, empowering religious factions to act as intermediaries.

This affects the relationship between the people of the south and the Lebanese state, hence their pledge of loyalty to their land and the emergence of movements aimed at countering land occupation and violations.

The notion of "resistance" in the south, Najdi points out, is deeply ingrained and reflects broader efforts to carve out an alternative southern identity by adopting ideologies and concepts from outside Lebanon's borders.

This helps explain why the southern Lebanese have variously aligned with Arab nationalism, leftist ideologies, or political Islam influenced by Iran.

Similar "crises of belonging" are seen throughout Lebanon, a fragmented state divided along sectarian and regional lines.

Najdi anticipates that the people of the south will return to their villages after this most conflict, as they have historically, even in the absence of compensation or a governmental rehabilitation plan, such is their bond with the land.

They will simply deal with the fall-out from Israel's phosphorous, just like they have dealt with everything else that recent history has thrown at them.