Hezbollah warns Lebanon over Israeli “environmental genocide” in south
Shafaq News- Beirut
Hezbollah on Sunday urged Lebanese people across all communities to recognize the risks posed by the authorities’ continued pursuit of concessions and “humiliating negotiations” with Israel, while denouncing Israeli territorial ambitions and “environmental genocide” in the country’s south, three days after the latest round of direct Lebanese-Israeli talks concluded in Rome.
According to the group, a map published by the Israeli Foreign Ministry depicted occupied parts of southern Lebanon as Israeli territory, which it presented as evidence of Israeli ambitions over Lebanese land and resources, arguing that Tel Aviv's ambitions extended beyond the south to Lebanon as a whole.
The party called on the authorities to halt direct negotiations, convene an emergency meeting of the Higher Defense Council, and file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council. It further appealed for a unified national position in defense of Lebanon’s sovereignty and rights to its land and resources.
In another statement, the group charged that Israeli forces were deliberately setting fire to forested areas in southern Lebanon, leaving them burned and “uninhabitable,” alongside the destruction of infrastructure and removal of old olive trees, pressing the government, Environment Ministry, and other relevant bodies to act to stop the “Israeli brutality against the environment, after people and infrastructure.”
Read more: “Attack on Identity”: Israel damages 55 historic towns in Lebanon
Lebanon and Israel concluded a third day of US-sponsored negotiations in Rome on Thursday, exchanging preliminary lists of detainees and missing persons without reaching a final agreement on key territorial issues. Beirut sought the swift release of an initial group of civilian detainees and received a US pledge to provide answers regarding a ceasefire, while the Israeli delegation presented names of Lebanese Jews recorded as missing or killed. A further round is tentatively scheduled for September 1.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry placed the cumulative toll from the Israeli war between March 2 and August 7 at 4,335 dead and 12,273 wounded, including women and children.
Israeli Attacks Continue in Southern Lebanon
Lebanese media reported Israeli military activity across southern Lebanon, including a tank entering Hadatha and setting homes on fire. Artillery fire hit Bani Hayyan in the Marjayoun district and intermittently targeted the area between Mayfadoun and Zawtar Al-Sharqiyah, where Israeli forces also carried out a large explosion. Israeli drones were reported flying at low altitude over Tyre.
Lebanese Army units, meanwhile, dismantled unexploded missiles and aerial bombs left from Israeli attacks in five villages, before transferring the munitions to a secure location for disposal.
عملت وحدات مختصة من الجيش على تفكيك صواريخ وقنابل طيران غير منفجرة من مخلفات العدوان الإسرائيلي في بلدات: دبين – مرجعيون، زوطر الغربية وحومين الفوقا وزبدين والدوير - النبطية، ونقلتها إلى موقع آمن لإجراء اللازم بشأنها، حفاظًا على سلامة المواطنين.تشدد قيادة الجيش على ضرورة اتخاذ… pic.twitter.com/uSbNjX0hrW
— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) August 9, 2026
For its part, the Israeli military announced that its troops had uncovered and destroyed an underground shaft over the past week. It identified the site as a Hezbollah weapons-storage facility and listed Kalashnikov rifles, anti-tank missiles and launchers, artillery weapons, and RPGs among the weapons found.
مشاهد من تدمير فتحة تحت أرضية تابعة لمنظمة حزب الله الإرهابية: نشاط قوات فريق القتال اللوائي 55 في المنطقة الأمنية🔸تعمل قوات فريق القتال اللوائي 55 وقوات وحدة يهلوم، تحت قيادة الفرقة 91، في المنطقة الأمنية في جنوب لبنان، لإزالة التهديدات عن دولة إسرائيل.🔸خلال الأسبوع… pic.twitter.com/aV7uLXluf6
— Lieutenant Colonel Ella Waweya | إيلا واوية (@CaptainElla1) August 9, 2026
