A well-known Lebanese environmental activist, known for her turtle conservation work, was wounded in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the country earlier this week.
Mona Khalil was reportedly rushed to hospital after a strike on her beachfront home in the southern village of Mansouri on Thursday. According to information obtained by Lebanese news site Annahar, the attack also left her assistant with burn injuries.
Both women were taken to Jabal Amel Hospital in the city of Tyre, where Khalil underwent surgery for severe wounds, including a serious abdominal injury. She was later transferred to a hospital in Beirut.
Local media reported that her condition had stabilised by Friday morning.
"Ms Mona Khalil is not merely an environmental activist; she is regarded as one of the pioneers of marine turtle conservation in Lebanon and the wider region," Green Southerners, an NGO focused on protecting South Lebanon's natural and cultural heritage, told The New Arab.
Khalil began her work around the year 2000, establishing the Orange House Project, which has been dedicated to protecting endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles on Mansouri Beach, located south of Tyre and around 8-10 km from the Israeli border.
The project has protected the beach for decades, monitoring nests, tagging turtles, and releasing thousands of hatchlings into the Mediterranean each season. The Orange House, where Khalil lived, became a well-known landmark in the area.
"For more than two decades, her efforts helped transform this relatively small stretch of coastline into one of the most important sea turtle nesting sites on the eastern Mediterranean coast. What was achieved there was not only a local success story, but also a pioneering model for biodiversity conservation across the region," Green Southerners told TNA.
'Not an accident'
Relatives say Khalil refused to leave her home despite the dangers, and despite its proximity to Israeli forces, which have established a security zone along the border inside southern Lebanon.
Social media has been awash with messages of solidarity for Khalil, with people praising the conservationist and wishing her a speedy recovery.
The NGO says it believes the strike on Khalil's home was intentional, and cannot be separated from the attacks on medics, journalists, and other environmental activists in the south.
"The targeting of Mona's home in an airstrike cannot be considered random or accidental; it was deliberate, just as was the case with our colleague Osama Farhat, who was killed in a direct strike in Mays al-Jabal, as well as other environmental activists in villages and towns across southern Lebanon," said the group.
"This comes as part of a clear policy aimed at forcing people from their villages and towns. Such actions constitute a war crime under international humanitarian law and require investigation and accountability," it added.
Mansouri, like around 70 towns and villages across the south, has been largely destroyed by the Israeli military.
Israel's offensive has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon since fighting resumed with Hezbollah on 2 March, while the UN says more than one million people have registered themselves as displaced due to forced evacuation orders, mostly in the south.