Israel’s Chemical Recklessness in Lebanon: A Grave Threat to Regional and Global Peace.
From Prof. Engr. Zamir Awan – Pakistan
The intensifying Israeli military campaign against Lebanon has entered a deeply alarming phase—one that goes beyond routine violations of sovereignty and ventures into environmental warfare, collective punishment, and reckless disregard for international norms. Recent Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon, coupled with the reported use of unidentified chemical substances on agricultural land along the Blue Line, mark a dangerous escalation that exposes Israel’s aggressive, expansionist, and destabilizing regional posture.
At least one civilian was killed and eight others wounded in a single day of Israeli strikes north and south of the Litani River. Residential neighborhoods were damaged, livelihoods disrupted, and communities pushed further into fear and uncertainty. While Israel continues to justify its actions under the familiar pretext of targeting “Hezbollah infrastructure,” the facts on the ground tell a far grimmer story—one of indiscriminate violence, environmental destruction, and systematic violations of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
Chemical Operations and Environmental Warfare
Most disturbing are credible reports, confirmed by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment, that Israeli aircraft deliberately sprayed unidentified chemical substances over Lebanese territory, including farmland near the border. Israel claimed the substance was “non-toxic,” yet refused transparency or independent verification before executing the operation.
UNIFIL itself described the action as “unacceptable,” noting that peacekeepers were forced to suspend operations across nearly one-third of the Blue Line for hours. Peacekeepers were ordered to take cover, and over ten scheduled missions were cancelled. If the substance was truly harmless, why were even UN forces warned to keep their distance?
This episode highlights a recurring Israeli pattern: act first, justify later, and evade accountability altogether.
The Lebanese Ministry of Environment has rightly termed this act “environmental annihilation,” warning that such actions undermine the resilience of southern Lebanese communities whose survival depends on agriculture. Environment Minister Tamara El-Zein ordered immediate sampling of the affected areas, recalling that nearly 9,000 hectares of Lebanese land were previously burned using white phosphorus and incendiary munitions during earlier Israeli assaults.
This is not collateral damage—it is deliberate environmental warfare.
Violations of International Law and UN Mandates
Israel’s conduct flagrantly violates UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which explicitly prohibits hostile actions, aerial violations, and any activity that endangers civilians or peacekeepers. UNIFIL has confirmed that this was not the first time Israel dropped unidentified substances onto Lebanese land, nor the first time it obstructed peacekeeping operations.
Yet Israel continues to operate with impunity, shielded by political protection rather than legal legitimacy.
The use of chemicals—identified or not—over civilian agricultural land raises serious concerns under international humanitarian law and environmental protection norms. The long-term impact on soil quality, water safety, food security, and public health remains unknown. Such actions risk making entire مناطق uninhabitable, delaying civilian returns and destroying livelihoods for generations.
A Pattern of Aggression, Not Self-Defense
Israel’s defenders routinely frame its actions as defensive. But the pattern emerging from Lebanon is unmistakably offensive, punitive, and expansionist.
Israeli drones struck vehicles far from active combat zones, killing individuals in populated areas and wounding civilians. Entire residential buildings in towns such as Kfar Tebnit and Ain Qana were damaged following evacuation warnings that residents barely had time to process. Israeli forces reportedly infiltrated Lebanese territory, planted explosives in civilian homes, and destroyed them—clear acts of aggression that cannot be justified under any ceasefire framework.
Meanwhile, Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace as far east as Baalbek, demonstrating that Israel’s operational reach is limited not by law, but by convenience.
These actions reflect a pessimistic and militarized Israeli philosophy—one that views perpetual force as the only means of survival, and instability as an acceptable cost of dominance. It is a worldview rooted in fear, not peace; in coercion, not coexistence.
Zionist Expansionism and Regional Destabilization
What is unfolding in Lebanon must be understood within a broader ideological framework. Zionist expansionism has long treated neighboring territories not as sovereign entities, but as buffers, battlegrounds, or bargaining chips. From Gaza to the West Bank, from Syria to Lebanon, Israel has consistently externalized its security anxieties by exporting violence.
This strategy has failed repeatedly.
Rather than producing security, it has entrenched resistance, normalized perpetual war, and destabilized the entire Middle East. Lebanon today stands as another victim of this failed doctrine—its skies violated, its land poisoned, and its people punished for geopolitical calculations beyond their control.
By undermining UN peacekeeping missions and ignoring international resolutions, Israel also weakens the global security architecture. If a state can openly defy the UN, endanger peacekeepers, and face no consequences, what message does that send to the rest of the world?
A Direct Threat to Global Peace
Israel’s actions in Lebanon are not a localized issue; they pose a serious threat to regional and global peace. Escalation along the Lebanese front risks drawing in multiple actors, widening conflict lines, and destabilizing already fragile regional balances.
Moreover, environmental warfare has no borders. Toxic substances do not respect ceasefire lines. Soil contamination, water pollution, and food insecurity have cascading effects that can fuel displacement, poverty, and long-term instability—conditions that breed further conflict.
UNIFIL’s warning should be taken seriously: any activity that endangers civilians and peacekeepers is a matter of grave international concern. Yet concern alone is no longer sufficient.
Lebanon’s Diplomatic Appeal and the International Community’s Test
President Joseph Aoun’s call from Madrid for international pressure on Israel reflects Lebanon’s continued commitment to diplomacy, restraint, and multilateral solutions. Lebanon seeks not escalation, but protection—protection of its people, its land, and its sovereignty.
Lebanon has also emphasized the need to strengthen its national army and extend state authority across its territory, a goal that requires stability, not constant Israeli aggression. Continued attacks only weaken state institutions and undermine the very conditions Israel claims to desire.
The upcoming international conference in Paris and discussions over extending peacekeeping deployments represent a critical test for the international community. Will global actors uphold international law, or will they continue to reward violations with silence?
Accountability Is Long Overdue
Israel’s use of unidentified chemicals in Lebanon, combined with relentless airstrikes and ground incursions, exposes the true nature of its regional conduct—brutal, irrational, expansionist, and dismissive of human and environmental costs.
A state that repeatedly violates international law, endangers peacekeepers, destroys civilian livelihoods, and normalizes environmental destruction cannot credibly claim moral legitimacy. Its pessimistic philosophy of permanent militarization threatens not only Lebanon, but the fragile foundations of regional and global peace.
The world must move beyond rhetorical concern. Independent investigations, accountability mechanisms, and real diplomatic pressure are urgently needed. Peace cannot be built on poisoned land, shattered homes, and ignored laws.
Lebanon deserves sovereignty. Its people deserve safety. And the international system deserves integrity. Silence, at this point, is complicity.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Founding Chair GSRRA, Sinologist, Diplomat, Editor, Analyst, Advisor, Consultant, Researcher at Global South Economic and Trade Cooperation Research Center, and Non-Resident Fellow of CCG. (E-mail: awanzamir@yahoo.com).