ByTZVI JASPER

Israel is allegedly intentionally starting fires in Lebanon, Lebanese firefighters and environmental groups told The Guardian on Wednesday.

“Most of our missions are now related to fires,” Hussein Fakih, the head of the civil defense in the Nabatiya region, told the Guardian. “There are enormous areas of woodland that have burned, I don’t have the exact figures, but in the areas close to the [frontline], around 30-40% of the land has been affected by fires.”

Fakih also said that firefighters struggled to extinguish some fires due to being targeted by Israeli drones, blaming Israeli bombing campaigns on starting the fires in the first place.

“They started doing this right after the ceasefire, and there have been incendiary bombs every day,” Fakih said. “Small drones come out and drop incendiary materials, [white] phosphorus shells are fired at the woodlands, in addition to illumination flares that they drop during the daytime so the vegetation catches fire.”

Another civil defense chief, Samir Hardan, told the Guardian that Israeli drones had started two fires within the span of three days, and that any firefighting had to be done in coordination with the Lebanese Army, which in turn must relay the request to a "deconfliction" group which includes the IDF.

Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Kfartibnit, Lebanon, June 19, 2026.
Smoke billows from southern Lebanon following an Israeli strike, as seen from Kfartibnit, Lebanon, June 19, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/STRINGER)

Lebanon environmentalists condemn IDF-caused fires

Meanwhile, the founder of the Lebanese conservation group Green Southerners told the Guardian that Israel is enacting "a pattern of destruction that progressively erodes the ability of ecosystems to function, regenerate and sustain life. When those cascading effects also undermine livelihoods and people’s ability to return to and remain on their land, environmental destruction becomes inseparable from the wider transformation of the territory itself.”

The founder, Hisham Younes, emphasized the importance of the environment in the area. "These are long-established woodlands, dominated by productive stone pine alongside oak. They perform critical functions. The wider area is also an important passage and resting ground for migratory birds.”

The IDF told the Guardian that all strikes on Lebanon were “conducted while taking precautionary measures to mitigate harm to civilians and the environment.”