Lebanese Environmental Activist in His 70s Seriously Injured in Israeli Attack Dies Finally

JAKARTA - Activists and environmental groups have crowded to pay tribute to Mona Khalil, a Lebanese environmental activist who was killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.

Citing AFP, Sunday, June 21, a medical source said Khalil, who is in his late 70s, has dedicated his life to turtle conservation for the past few decades.

He was seriously injured when an Israeli military attack on June 4 hit his house in Mansouri village, about 10 kilometers south of the coastal city of Tyre, southern Lebanon.

The impact of the wounds from the Israeli military's attacks on civilians was severe, Khalil breathed his last on Friday, June 19.

Julien Jreissati, director of the Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa Program, said Khalil had "devoted decades of his life to protecting the sea turtles and the Mansouri coastline".

"His loss is not only a loss for his family and community, but also for the environmental movement in Lebanon and the region," Jreissati said.

The vast stretch of Lebanon's southern coastline near Tyre, which includes a number of beach points watched by environmentalists in the country, is a nesting site for turtles, including endangered green turtles and green turtles.

One of them is in the Hima Qoleileh-Mansouri area, a stretch of sandy and rocky coastline along seven kilometers that accommodates more than 58 endangered sea turtle nests every year.

Khalil, who returned to Lebanon from the Netherlands more than two decades ago, founded a conservation project combined with ecotourism called the Orange House Project, where visitors can watch turtle hatching and participate in conservation activities in the area.

"For decades, Khalil has been at the forefront of conservation efforts along the southern coast," said the environmentalist organization in Lebanon, SPNL, which "mourns the loss of one of Lebanon's most dedicated and tireless environmental defenders in the protection of marine turtle conservation".

Khalil also inspired the community and "helped build a culture of environmental preservation rooted in local ownership and collective responsibility," the SPNL statement added.

The same grief was also expressed by the local environmental group, Green Southerners. Through their X social media account, they said "the time of mourning a pioneer environmental defender" for decades and "dedicating his life to protecting endangered sea turtles and their nesting habitat".

"Through Orange House, he inspires generations of Lebanese to appreciate and protect their natural heritage and coastal ecosystems," the Green Southerners said.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency (NNA) has reported Israel's massive attack on the Tyre district, including a raid in Mansouri earlier this month that left Khalil wounded to death.

The village is also located near an area where Israeli forces operate in southern Lebanon.

Khalil is among the few local residents still holding out in Tyre despite Israel's bloody offensive under the pretext of crippling Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.