Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil, who helped turn a stretch of coastline in southern Lebanon into one of the eastern Mediterranean's most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles, died after being injured in an Israeli strike.
Khalil, 76, was wounded when her house on Mansouri beach, near the southern city of Tyre, was hit during Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon two weeks ago. She succumbed on Friday after several days in hospital, according to a local environmental group.
Her death comes as Israeli air strikes intensify across southern Lebanon, raising concerns about renewed violence despite diplomatic efforts to maintain a fragile regional peace.
» "She is a deeply committed environmental defender," said Hisham Younes, founder of Green Southerners.
For more than 25 years, Khalil dedicated herself to protecting endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles that nest along Lebanon's southern coast. Her conservation work began after witnessing a turtle laying eggs on Mansouri beach in 1999.
She had spent years living abroad but returned to Lebanon and helped establish the Orange House Project in 2000, an eco‑tourism and conservation initiative overlooking Mansouri beach.
The initiative evolved into a centre for environmental education, wildlife protection and marine research, drawing volunteers and visitors from around the world.
Her efforts secured protected status for parts of the coastline and raised awareness of threats to marine ecosystems in Lebanon.
Friends and colleagues noted she continued her work despite years of conflict in southern Lebanon, refusing to leave the beach she had defended. Her legacy, they say, will live on through the conservation movement she helped build and generations of turtles that return to Lebanon's shores.
