Prime Minister of Lebanon against Israel

 

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, said Israeli airstrikes had turned southern Lebanon into a "devastated rural area"


Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah exchanged fire along Israel's northern border after war broke out in Gaza, with Hezbollah firing rockets and Israel launching airstrikes and firing artillery shells.

Israeli strikes have burned tens of thousands of olive trees and farmland across southern Lebanon, hitting herders and farmers already reeling from a deep economic crisis that has made it even more important for Lebanon to produce its own food.

"Eight hundred hectares (8,000 acres) have been completely destroyed," 340,000 livestock have died, and about 75 percent of farmers have lost their last source of income," Mikati said, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.

"This problem will be prolonged in the coming years."

Agriculture Minister Abbas Haj Hassan sounded the alarm last month, saying Israeli strikes were preventing farmers in villages and towns from reaching their fields, affecting up to 30 percent of Lebanon's agricultural production.