Genocide Warning: Ecocide and Domicide in Southern Lebanon
- Genocide Watch
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
April 2026
By Leonardo Monopoli
On March 2, 2026, the war between Israel and Hezbollah resumed following Hezbollah’s launch of hundreds of missiles into Northern Israel and after scores of Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement of 2024. Following the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in 1982, Hezbollah was founded with Iranian funding. Hezbollah issued a manifesto calling for the destruction of the state of Israel, a declaration of genocidal intent.
The Israeli – Hezbollah war of 2026 has caused widespread long term infrastructural and environmental harm in Lebanon. Israeli bombing and evacuation orders have displaced 1.2 million people from Southern Lebanon. 2,196 people have been killed. 7,185 people have been seriously injured. Israeli bombing has leveled 1,400 buildings.
A ten-day ceasefire deal was reached on the 16 April 2026 following US diplomatic pressure on Israel. It can be extended- to allow for negotiations between Israel and Lebanon which have begun in Washington, DC. Hezbollah is not included in the negotiations. Like Trump’s “peace” deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo which did not include M23, the main combatant, the Israeli-Lebanon negotiations are unlikely to produce peace.
Israel’s bombing and its occupation of southern Lebanon violate the UN Charter, the Hague Conventions of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Israel is a state-party to all of these treaties, the foundations of international humanitarian law. Israel’s bombing violates all three core principles of the laws of war: distinction, proportionality and precaution. Israel’s relentless bombing of southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and Beirut’s civilian inhabitants constitutes a war crime.
This emergency alert refers to the Israeli strategy of rendering southern Lebanon uninhabitable through ecocide and domicide. “Ecocide” is defined by the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide in June 2021 as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts."Domicide" is defined as the deliberate, widespread or systematic destruction of housing and living spaces. Both represent a ‘deliberate strategy of warfare’, with long-term consequences for public health and safety, food and water security, basic public services, economic development and reconstruction.
Israel’s October 2023 war with Hezbollah destroyed 1,879 hectares of prime farmland, more than 47,000 olive trees, and around 1,200 hectares of oak forests in southern Lebanon . Israel’s 2026 bombing continues its policy of ecocide and domicide.
The Monk Forest (Harj Al-Raheb) provides an ecological resource crucial to the livelihood of people and animals in southern Lebanon. The forest acts as a barrier against erosion and seasonal floods. Rain on the forest fills underground reservoirs with water and bees flourish, providing pollination and sources of income. Endangered species, including the striped hyena, Syrian jackal and Egyptian mongoose depend on the forest. Birds use the Monk Forest for their annual migrations, with one species going extinct, marking the first known global bird extinction in Europe North Africa and West Asia.
Human Rights Watch has documented Israel’s use of white phosphorus and incendiary bombs to burn farms, olive groves and forests in a scorched earth policy. Satellite imagery shows white craters amidst greenery in the Monk Forest, highlighting extensive white phosphorus use alongside documented use of bulldozing.
Use of white phosphorus against civilians is outlawed by Protocol III of The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (1980), prohibits attacking civilians with incendiary weapons. However, Israel is not a state-party to Protocol III of the Conventional Weapons Convention.
The Lebanese Ministry of Environment announced high levels of heavy metals and phosphorus 900 times the normal amount in the soil in southern Lebanon. This contamination poses a threat to public health because it will inhibit crops’ ability to absorb nutrients. The contamination also pollutes groundwater, threatening southern Lebanon’s water supply.
Since March 2026, Israel Defense Forces have rendered at least 540 hectares of Lebanese farmland unusable. Israel has sprayed 20-30 times the normal amount of glyphosate, a herbicide which has been linked to the deadly cancer Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma by the WHO. The OHCHR stated in February 2026 that attacks on Lebanese farmland and water pose a ‘serious humanitarian risk’. As Hisham Younes put it, the concept of making land unable to provide substance comes straight from the ‘colonial tradition of warfare’ that dates back to the genocidal Roman sowing of salt on the fields of Carthage.
Israel destroyed between 10,000 structures in Lebanon between October 2024 and January 2025 destroying whole villages such as Kfar Kila. Israeli Defense Forces destroyed homes, mosques, cemeteries, roads, parks and football pitches. Israel excused its attacks on civilian infrastructure with the claim that Hezbollah was using civilian structures to store weapons and for refuge.
Israel uses this excuse to bomb Beirut’s suburbs such as Dahiyeh without warning. The Israeli military also uses bulldozers and explosives to destroy Lebanese towns. BBC Verify has documented the demolition of seven southern Lebanese towns, including. Khiam, Deir Seryan, Taybeh, Markaba, Aita al-Shaab, Qouzah and Naqoura. Israeli Defence minister Israel Katz ordered the destruction of these towns to establish an Israeli controlled security zone that will occupy over 10% of Lebanese territory. This order to "accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes" was based on the "Rafah and Beit Hanoun model in Gaza." Destruction even includes the demolition of mosques. For reference, The IDF destroyed 90% of homes in Rafah.
The Israeli Defence Minister has openly stated that the goal is to prevent the return of about 600,000 residents of southern Lebanon. Mass forced displacement is a war crime and crime against humanity under Article 7(1)(d) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Destruction of civilian property is prohibited by Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention unless it is a military necessity. According to Professor Janina Dill, this does not equate to gaining a military advantage and does not allow for the destruction of entire villages.
Destruction of entire Lebanese villages is a quintessential example of domicide. Israel is not only destroying homes but is also preventing Lebanese civilians from returning to homes still standing. As established by OHCHR experts, the issuing of blanket evacuation orders and the destruction of urban and village housing is a copy of the domicide policy Israel used in Gaza. Experts on the law of war say that Israel’s takeover of southern Lebanon does not qualify as self-defence. Instead, it is aggression.
To cut southern Lebanon off from the rest of the country, the IDF has blown up bridges over the Litany River. This has cut transport routes for displaced persons to return to their homes. It has prevented medical and humanitarian aid teams to provide medical care and food. On 16 April 2026, the IDF destroyed the Qasmiyeh Bridge, the last bridge linking western, central and eastern Lebanon with southern Lebanon. The IDF has isolated remaining southern Lebanese from the rest of the country.
Israel has also targeted medical facilities. Israeli bombing has killed 53 medical workers, destroyed 87 ambulances and closed five hospitals to close. The Jabal Amel University Hospital in Tyre has been bombed five times. On 14 April 2026, the Hospital of Tebnine was bombed, causing ‘substantial damage’. The closing of five hospitals has produced intense overcrowding in waiting rooms as Lebanese civilians cannot access basic medical services.
During 2024, Israeli bombing damaged more than 45 water networks in Lebanon, impacting almost half a million people. According to Oxfam, Israel is again deliberately destroying water and sanitation infrastructure as a method of warfare. The IDF has bombed 19 water treatment plants that previously provided clean water to 60,000 people in southern Lebanon. Israel has also destroyed heavy machinery to delay or prevent reconstruction.
Destruction of water supplies is a blatant violation of Article 54 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. Israel is not a State-Party to Additional Protocol I, but with 174 nations ratifying it most international law authorities assert that it has become part of Customary International Law, which applies to every nation.
Genocide Watch recommends:
Israel, Lebanon, and Hezbollah must comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and continue their ceasefire.
The UN Human Rights Council and ICC should establish independent investigations into war crimes by all parties.
The UN General Assembly should create a Commission of Inquiry to investigate Ecocide and Domicide in Lebanon.
The International Law Commission should draft an Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions prohibiting Ecocide and Domicide as war crimes.
