Israel's chemical attacks devastates Lebanese and Syrian agriculture along border

Israel is increasingly using glyphosate herbicide against Lebanese and Syrian agricultural lands, threatening food security, water supplies, and long-term soil fertility in both countries.

Israeli planes sprayed chemical herbicides across Lebanon's southern border in early February 2026, covering approximately 8.5 square kilometres of agricultural land, forests, and livestock grazing areas with glyphosate concentrations up to 50 times higher than standard agricultural use.

Lebanon's Ministries of Agriculture and Environment reported on 4 February that soil and plant samples tested positive for glyphosate, a herbicide banned in Lebanon and the European Union, and classified as "probably carcinogenic to humans" by the World Health Organisation's cancer research agency in 2015.

Glyphosate is a non-selective, systemic herbicide that attacks plant roots, preventing regrowth for two to three years. At concentrations 30-50 times normal levels, the chemical persists in soil for extended periods, threatens groundwater, and kills beneficial soil microorganisms essential to fertility.

The spraying operation targeted an 18-kilometre strip along the border, extending 300–500 meters wide from the edges of villages adjacent to the Western Galilee. Two civilian agricultural aircraft flew as low as five meters above ground, dispensing white foamy substances over forests containing oak, terebinth, and laurel trees, as well as farmland cultivated with olives, tobacco, grains, and vegetables.

Environmental destruction

"This wasn't random spraying," said Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani to The New Arab. "The goal is to eliminate all vegetation cover and turn the area into a completely exposed zone, a barren, desert-like strip".

The tactic follows Israel's "scorched earth" policy employed in Gaza: creating vegetation-free buffer zones to prevent militant infiltration. Israeli forces previously removed the famous Adeisseh tree and cleared pine forests during their occupation of southern Lebanon, combining ground clearing with intensive herbicide application, according to experts.

The strategy gained urgency after an 8 October infiltration from Dahira village resulted in one Israeli officer killed, and two soldiers wounded, with three resistance fighters martyred. Israeli military planners studied wind patterns and terrain before executing the spraying operation.

"Israel warned UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army it would spray vegetation, but the state failed to alert civilians not to expose themselves or their livestock to the material, or to avoid consuming agricultural products that would be contaminated," said Jihad Abboud, head of Lebanon's Chemists Syndicate and forensic chemistry expert.

The spraying adds catastrophic environmental damage to Lebanon's agricultural sector, already devastated by 13 months of Israeli bombardment from October 2023 to November 2024.

A UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report documented $118 million in direct agricultural damage and $586 million in indirect economic losses during that period, concentrated in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

"This herbicide isn't used as a pure substance but as a commercial formulation combining glyphosate salt with surfactants that enhance penetration into plant tissue," explained MP Najat Saliba, chemistry professor at American University of Beirut, to TNA. "Some additives may be more irritating or toxic than glyphosate itself, especially when sprayed as aerosol."

The targeted area, according to Saliba, contained mixed forest and agricultural land, including Ancient oak, terebinth, and laurel forests that provide habitat for wildlife; olive groves that produce oil and soap; tobacco plantations; grain fields (lentils, fava beans); livestock grazing areas; and beekeeping operations.

Majed Taheini, the Mukhtar of Aita al-Shaab village, estimated that his personal losses exceed $30,000 from eight dunams of olive trees and four dunams of tobacco that he cannot access.

"I used to harvest over 100 containers of olives annually. For two years, we haven't set foot on the land or harvested olives. The same for all Aita residents, we haven't benefited from olives for two years, nor from the abundant laurel we used for soap and laurel oil production," Taheini said.

Muhammad Ghannam, the mayor of Marwahin village in the Bint Jbeil area that borders Israel, said that half of his village remains occupied or off-limits to entry, including the municipal building, water tanks, and a major residential quarter.

"Farmers in the western neighbourhood near Umm al-Dud could only harvest their produce. We're waiting for Agriculture Ministry results," he said, noting this wasn't the first Israeli spraying; last year, Israel's targeted spraying killed olive and avocado trees in restricted areas, but no samples were collected.

Sara Salloum, head of the Agricultural Movement, emphasised the attack extended beyond farmland.

"Israel sprayed forest lands containing oak, terebinth, and other slow-growing species, difficult to replace. The effects aren't short-term but long-term. Any violation of this magnitude is first a sovereignty violation and an assault on land," she said.

Dr Hassan Makhlouf, president of the Environmental Movement, warned of cascading ecological damage.

"Vegetation death causes severe damage to plant and animal biodiversity. The impact on plants is direct, while the impact on animals results from forests providing habitat and food for wildlife, forcing animals to flee or exposing them to harm. High concentrations may cause direct toxicity to animals and birds, causing death and destroying existing biodiversity," he told TNA.

Glyphosate exposure at high concentrations poses human health risks, including eye and skin irritation, and in rare cases, serious problems when ingested. Studies link it to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, prompting bans in the EU and other regions.

The chemical also threatens soil degradation and damage to soil microorganisms, fertility, and cohesion, leading to erosion and desertification, water contamination, such as potential pollution of springs and groundwater connected to targeted areas, and food chain disruption.

Additionally, agricultural products, livestock feed, and water sources are being contaminated, causing livestock losses, including cattle, sheep, goats, and poultry, which have already been decimated during the war.

Environmental warfare

The spraying represents the latest in documented Israeli herbicide campaigns across borders:

In Syria, Israeli aircraft sprayed unknown herbicides over the Quneitra countryside farmland on 26-27 January 2026, followed by a second spraying operation in early February, causing widespread crop destruction in what Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor called a direct violation of the right to work and adequate living standards.

Jamal Ali, Director of Agriculture in Quneitra, noted that approximately 80 dunams of wheat fields in Kudna village in the province's central countryside were damaged after exposure to chemical materials sprayed by Israeli aircraft.

"The damage was clear, the wheat crop died completely, creating major agricultural losses and negatively impacting farmers' livelihoods, who depend primarily on agriculture and grazing," he said.

Field surveys of areas sprayed with toxic materials revealed severe environmental and agricultural damage at targeted sites, with complete vegetation death in sprayed areas, particularly wild grasses and plants, reflecting the direct and dangerous impact of these materials on the natural environment.

Ali Ibrahim, Director of Environment in Quneitra, told local media that the villages of Kudna, al-Asha, and al-Rafid, located along the ceasefire line, were exposed to spraying of unknown chemical materials from Israeli agricultural aircraft on 25 January, "in clear violation of all international agreements".

Environmental consultant Dr Mowaffaq al-Sheikh Ali told TNA, "Until now, there is no official Syrian report showing the nature of the material used, so I'm relying on Lebanese Environment Ministry reports, which revealed the material is glyphosate. The phenomena that appeared on plants in Syria show their glyphosate, but so far, no official report has been issued on the subject".

The Quneitra spraying continues a documented pattern in the region, with similar operations peaking in 2014, 2018, and 2021, and repeated incidents in 2026 coinciding with military escalation in buffer zones.

While glyphosate isn't classified as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention, international law provides environmental protection standards during armed conflict.

The 1976 ENMOD Convention prohibits hostile environmental modification techniques causing widespread, long-lasting, or severe effects. Customary international humanitarian law requires avoiding warfare methods causing severe, long-term, widespread environmental damage not justified by military necessity.

"Authoritative IHL analyses recognise restrictions on herbicide use as a warfare method when damaging plants not constituting military targets," Saliba noted.

Future at risk

Agriculture and Environment Ministers Tamara al-Zein and Nizar Hani called the spraying "a serious hostile act threatening food security, exposing natural resources to severe damage, undermining farmers' livelihoods, and carrying potential health and environmental risks affecting water, soil, and the food chain".

The ministries urged citizens and farmers in affected areas to "exercise caution, avoid touching damaged crops or using water at sites suspected of exposure until official guidance is issued".

However, experts criticised the government's limited response.

"The state relied on Israeli statements—more dangerous than merely spraying pesticides," Abboud said. "Israel notified UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army it would spray vegetation, but the negligent state didn't warn people against exposure or consuming contaminated agricultural products".

He demanded broader testing, saying, "The state conducted analysis only, not wider profiling and advanced tests to search for other toxic substances Israel may have sprayed. Israel isn't a saint. Toxicity may be long-term".

Abboud called for collaboration with syndicates, universities, and specialised experts. "There's marginalisation of specialists, including our syndicate. I've requested meetings with several ministers who haven't received us or even consulted us on this grave matter. We're ready to open a new page with the state and have our expertise used without compensation or position," he said.

Taheini in Aita al-Shaab remains cautious about his accessible land. "I have land far from the border where we pruned olive trees, hoping to cultivate them this year. I have northern land with 40-year-old olive trees; they bulldozed four dunams, four remain. All Aita residents are damaged this way," he remarked.

The long-term impact depends on concentration levels and treatment interventions. "Although nature has self-healing capacity, it may require a long time," Makhlouf said. "The state and international environmental institutions should initiate treatment of pollution in affected areas, hoping conditions stabilise and attacks stop, as these interventions require field presence unavailable currently."

For now, Lebanon and Syria's southern borders remains a chemically contaminated zone, with their agricultural future uncertain and their farmers barred from their lands.