Front Burner - Is Israel deliberately starting wildfires in Lebanon?

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

This past weekend, Israeli strikes killed at least 11 people in southern Lebanon, according to the country’s health ministry. It was the deadliest attack since a fragile ceasefire was reached in June, meant to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – though attacks continued. On top of airstrikes and drone attacks, residents and emergency workers in the region are accusing Israeli forces of intentionally starting wildfires which have been ripping through homes, forests and olive groves throughout the embattled area. All of it has people there worried about whether they’ll be able to stay and whether the hundreds of thousands displaced by the war will ever be able to return. Will Christou works for The Guardian based in Beirut. He’s been reporting on the fires, and the broader Israeli campaign in southern Lebanon. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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This is a CBC podcast. Hi everyone, I'm Jamie Poisson. This past weekend in southern Lebanon, at least 11 people, including three children, were killed in two Israeli air strikes, according to the country's health ministry. It was the deadliest attack since a fragile ceasefire was reached, meant to halt fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in June, though attacks continued. The memorandum that started the ceasefire expired yesterday. and diplomatic talks remain at a standstill. On top of airstrikes and drone attacks, residents and emergency workers in southern Lebanon are accusing Israeli forces of intentionally starting wildfires, which have been ripping through homes, forests, and olive groves throughout

the embattled area. All of this has people worried about whether they'll be able to stay and whether the hundreds of thousands displaced by the war will ever be able to return. Will Christu, a freelance reporter for The Guardian, is based in Beirut. He's here to tell us what he's learned about the fires, what is going on in the broader Israeli campaign in southern Lebanon, and what it all means for those that call it home. Well, thanks so much for coming back onto Frontburner. It's always a pleasure to have you on.

Always a pleasure to be on. So let's start with the fires. Do we know what the current state of them is right now? How big are they? Have they been contained? Yeah, so we've been seeing almost, Immediately after the June 6thire that you mentioned, we've been seeing Israeli forces start wildfires of various sizes in South Lebanon.

And, you know, firefighters are engaged in a daily battle to put them out, sort of a cat and mouse game. Last weekend, we saw some pretty intense ones in different areas in the South. Those have mostly been extinguished, but we're still seeing daily a few hours ago. We saw Israeli drones drop flares in the South. We're still seeing those pop up on the daily basis in different areas. And just tell me more about the challenges that emergency workers and firefighters are up against when they're responding to these fires. And I know you spoke to several emergency workers, including this one man, Hussein Faki, head of civil defense in Nabilia.

Yeah, it's not easy for firefighters in the South. We have the immediate risks, which are of being targeted. You know, for example, when we were reporting that store on wildfires last week, I called to Saint-Faqui. he said, give me a second, you know, I'll call you back in an hour. I'm fighting a fire now. And then I saw on state media that 30 minutes later, him and his team were targeted by a drone. Thankfully, none of them were hurt. They're able to withdraw. But, you know, they're putting themselves in danger not only from the fire, but of being, you know, targeted by Israeli forces. And then he also, you know, told me that when you are trying to deal with fires in these areas,

you oftentimes have unexpleted munitions, bombs. So it's really a tough thing to, deal with. And, you know, we're talking about first responders who have been targeted now for, I guess, since March 2nd. There's been over 100 first responders, mostly health care workers, who have been targeted by Israel. And so when they go on these missions, even though they have to get clearance from the Leibades Army first, they know that, you know, they might not come back. So it's very difficult for them. You mentioned the flares that Israel was dropping. I just, could you Tell me more about what we know about how Israel is allegedly setting these fires. Yeah, I mean, it's all sorts of ways.

I mean, the flares is what's mentioned most often. And, you know, these are munitions that have a legitimate purpose, right? They're supposed to use at night to light up an area, but they're being used during the day. So that legitimate purpose is not really there. So they're being used in forested areas during the days, and, you know, they lead to wildfires because it's very dry. And then in other areas, we see the Israelis using white phosphorus, which is essentially an incendiary ammunition when used in this way. And it shoots out in a big radius and falls everywhere and starts fires. And it can't be put out by water.

It has to be put out in a specialized way. And in addition to that, we talked to firefighters in a town called Foshuba. And they told us that they watched as Israeli drones went by, drops the munition, and then the fire started. And then after they put out that fire, the drone came back, dropped another ammunition, started it again. So, you know, we're receiving testimonies from all sorts of people about the spreading of wildfires. I just, can I ask you a little bit more about the white phosphorus? I mean, isn't this chemical also considered really dangerous if people come in contact with it? Am I right about that?

You know, to start white phosphorus is quite dangerous. It's uniquely dangerous not only because of how hot it burns, but because it's sticky. So if it landed on you, it would melt into your skin. And it can, because of the chemicals that are in it, it can cause organ failure, skin damage, a really tough stuff. In addition, it releases noxious gases that spread over a big area. But it's legal to use, it's legal to use in a military context, you're using it on populated areas, which now, because Israel has displaced most people from the South and occupies it, these are not populated areas. So theoretically, they can use

them under international humanitarian law. But, you know, the effect is if you're using it as sort of a way to start fires, and if you're using it as a sort of a weapon against the environment, then it becomes a little bit more dicey. And this isn't the first time we've seen, Israel used white phosphorus in this way. In 2023 to 2024, Israel was employing white phosphorus a lot in South Lebanon. And it was mainly used to displace residents because of the noxious gas. They would fire it at each side of a village

and then the gas would come in and drive everyone out. Or they would use it in forested areas as they are now to burn down forested areas in farmland. Some of this vegetation burned in these fires are olive and fruit groves that I understand that belong to local residents. I just can you tell me about how they have been impacted by all of this and what kind of meeting these trees and groves hold for the people that tend to them? Yeah, it's pretty awful. I mean, I was speaking to the mayor of Yadu, which is a town close to the border, which on August 1st, there were fires there. burning down olive groves and fruit trees and homes.

And, you know, when I talked to him, you could really just tell, okay, these are livelihoods for people, but also there's pain in his voice because these are fruit trees and olive groves that he grew up with. He was saying that some of them belonged to his grandfather and maybe their father's before them. And it's sort of another bit of their village that has now disappeared, you know, the areas where they grew up in the nature that they played in. In towns like Yorun, which are on the border, we've already seen most of the homes bulldozed by the Israeli military. But now the environment is being targeted too. So it's sort of an extra layer of hurt.

And also, let's say the Israelis withdrew tomorrow. These people who are farming on these lands, they now have questions about, is it safe to farm there? Is the soil contaminated with lead? Is it contaminated with white phosphorus, other munitions? It really, you know, these things could have effects for generations to come. You spoke to this one man, Hisham Yunus, from a conservation group, and he called what's happening ecocide. And can you just tell me more about what he meant by that? What does he think Israel is trying to accomplish here? Yeah, I mean, so what he said, and he's the founder of Green Southerners,

which is a conservation group that's been active for years and has been really active since the war started in 2023. You know, he was saying, is that there's a long-standing practice from Israel of targeting the environment in South Lebanon, not only through fires, but also through the use of chemical munitions, which contaminate the land, and also specific targeting of farmland and agricultural land. What he's saying is that when you look at, when you zoom out and you look at these attacks as a pattern, it becomes clear that it's another attempt to make the land uninhabitable. You know, southern Lebanon, it's a very agrarian place.

a lot of people rely on crops like tobacco and olives and fruit to make their living. So if you take away their ability to make their living, it's very hard to resettle there once they come back. What have you heard from the idea of the Israeli defense forces or any Israeli officials on this? Like how do they explain what's happening there with the fires? Yeah, so we approached the Israeli military for comment on our story, and we included coordinates, dates for every wildfire that was alleged to have been started by the Israeli military. We had also, we had validated this with ASSA has a map of wildfires. And so we approached them for comment on that. They didn't respond to the individual areas.

They just said that they take precautions to protect civilians in the environment and their operations in southern Lebanon. and they said that they're aware that their operations could have an effect on the environment. But, you know, this is an accusation, again, that has been going on since 2024, you know, Israel targeting the environment of South Lebanon. So it's a long-standing one. What we know, you know, we're trying to think about the military logic behind these things, is that we know that in the past, Hezbollah has used forests as cover for its tunnels and its fighters. Like in the past we saw in 2024, a fighter would pop out of a tunnel.

under the cover of trees, fire off a rocket and go back in the tunnel. So that would be sort of the military logic for it. But some of these areas that they're targeting, like Kaffa Shuba, for example, Hezbollah is not present there. It's an area that's not supportive of Hezbollah, and it's an area that's occupied by the Israelis.

So it's hard to really understand what's happening. It might be that maybe they're thinking that they should get rid of the forests and the vegetation cover in case they ever have to leave. I'm not sure. One particular area, A'I Tahrad, where there's a lot of fires daily. that's the subject of a lot of Israeli attacks

and what Israeli media said is that there are Hezbollah fighters underground present there. So that could be the logic for that specific area. But again, I think the issue, and this is what the conservationists are telling us, is that it's not just one or two areas. This is part of a wider practice

that is not so targeted, but rather sort of blanket practice of targeting a lot of natural areas. And the effect is born by the civilians. We live there. Between tariffs, trade battles, and an ongoing war in the Middle East, the lazy days of summer seem to have skipped Washington this year.

So our podcast, two blocks from the White House, is here to keep you caught up even if you're in vacation mode. Join me, Katie Simpson, with correspondence Paul Hunter and Willie Lowry and other journalists from our DC Bureau. for a front row seat and what this all means for Canadians. Find and follow two blocks from the White House with new episodes every Wednesday in your favorite podcast app, including YouTube. I would have brought in this conversation out a bit now and talk more generally about what has been happening in southern Lebanon, beyond the fires. Since the war broke out in March after Hezbollah attacked Israel in solidarity with Iran, Israel's subsequent military invasion, as you know,

of southern Lebanon has displaced over a million people. Lebanon's southern coast and Lebanon's capital city. This war with Iran is now firmly a war with Hezbollah too. Israel's defense minister says the IDF will control the remaining bridges and the security zone up to the Latani River in Lebanon. The Israeli military has issued new forced evacuation orders for towns and villages across southern Lebanon. The humanitarian situation in Lebanon has spiraled from a crisis

into a full-blown catastrophe. That's how aid workers on the ground are describing the dire situation with more than a million people forced out of their homes. Can you clarify for me how much of that part of the country has Israeli military presence

at the moment? So Israel set up what they call the Yellow Line in southern Lebanon, which is similar to what they did in Gaza. It's essentially a buffer zone of northern Israel. And this is an area of more 600 square kilometers, around 6% of the country that Israeli troops occupy.

And then, as we mentioned in the intro on June 17th, Israel and the U.S. signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran that was meant to halt hostilities of all fronts. And that was supposed to include Lebanon, right? A ceasefire, essentially. It's set the 60-day window for a wider peace deal that has lapsed today on Monday. And a few days after the June 17th, ceasefire agreement, Israel and Lebanon signed an agreement focused on southern Lebanon and Hezbollah. And yet, of course, air strikes and other military incursions in the area have continued and only gotten worse throughout the summer. And just how has Israel justified their presence and the violence in southern Lebanon? Just tell me a little bit more about that. I'm sure you'll build off

what you were talking about earlier in regards to the fires. Yeah. So, you know, you're going to conflicting statements from the Israeli side. You know, you've got Israel cats saying that they'll never leave, you said the other day. The IDF is here to protect the northern communities, to protect its forces. It will not move from here. We are not withdrawing. We will clear this area and ensure the security of the residents of the north, and under no circumstances will we withdraw.

Not in Lebanon, not in Syria, not in Gaza, from the security zones. Then you have the Israeli Foreign Ministry, which is engaged in the negotiations to the Lebanese government saying they want to leave, but they need guarantees of security. So the Israelis are saying essentially they're going to stay there until the Lebanese government can deal with Hezbollah, disarm them, or, you know, make sure that they're not a threat to Israel's security. The issue is that the people who are negotiating, or the Israeli government and the Lebanese government, Hezbollah is not a party to the talks. And they've said repeatedly they don't want the talks to be happening and they won't respect the outcome. So whatever comes out of these talks, you know, even if you have something on paper,

it's going to be much, much harder to implement that in practice. You know, let's say tomorrow Lebanese government says, for sure, we will disarm Hasbullah, you know, all good, then they have to do it. And the Lebanese state is weak. The Lebanese army is underpaid and under-equipped. And Hasbela, in many ways, is stronger than the state itself and the army. So the end of the day, this needs to come, You know, this needs to be solved through some sort of diplomatic channel as well as political channel in Lebanon itself. You know, if you look at Hamas, for example, Israel has been trying to get Hamas to disarm for three years now in an area much smaller than Lebanon. And Hamas is much weaker than Hasuala is. And they've not been able to do it despite dropping, I don't know how many thousands of tons of bombs and killing 73,000 people.

So it's a big task. But the issue is that, you know, diplomacy right now is sort of sputtering out. There's not been a real sort of result from diplomacy, despite it now being, what, two months of talking. And so if you are a resident of South Lebanon, you know, you're going to be very frustrated, and you're not going to think the government is working on your behalf, and you're not going to feel like they're doing good job. So you're going to look towards other people to solve that for you. And then on the Israeli side, you have an election that's coming up.

And, you know, what's happening in Lebanon is very relevant for Israeli audiences. And most of Netanyahu's challengers are challenging him on the basis of security. And a lot of them have said, you know, they want to have stronger actions on Hezbollah. So we might see, you know, Netanyahu do more extreme things as the election comes up as a reaction to that. Do you see the attacks that we saw this weekend? Searching for bodies beneath the rubble. Lebanese authorities say three children were among 11 people killed in two Israeli strikes on the south of the country. Israel says it was targeting a Hezbollah commander after the IDF was attacked in the Israeli occupied area of southern Lebanon.

Do you see that as a response to domestic issues in Israel? Why do you think we're seeing these escalations, these recent escalations? I think so because, I mean, the thing is, is that the Israeli presence in southern Lebanon doesn't really have a defined purpose as it's and it's sort of an open-ended occupation because, you know, Hasbela is not really that present in the areas they occupy now. They've mostly moved north. So you have Israel blowing up old weapons, caches, and whatever. But their, you know, reason for being there is not exactly clear.

And every now and again, you have an Israeli soldier that walks on, you know, steps on to a booby trap to something or other than they die. And that is a big deal in Israel. And so Netanyahu has to do something about that, particularly with the elections coming up. Yeah, I think there's an old saying that, says Israel doesn't have foreign policy. It has domestic policy. And I think we're seeing that in Lebanon. The White House, I mean, you mentioned those comments from Minister Israel Katz, not leaving.

And the White House did kind of scold that remark. It didn't name him directly, but there was a statement delivered through State Department officials saying the U.S. expects all parties to act in a manner consistent with the framework they agreed to. And Israel clearly stated that it has no territorial ambition in Lebanon. A permanent military presence in South Lebanon is not consistent with the commitments made in the framework or the long-term peace and security of both states. But have we seen any action beyond words by the U.S. and in holding Israel kind of accountable for the military operations in southern Lebanon? No, I don't think we have. I mean, you know, there's no statement about the 11 people killed over the weekend. And I don't think we will see that. You know, the U.S.

is the mediator in these negotiations, but clearly they have a favorite in the negotiations. And Israel, we know, was unhappy about being forced to stop their military operations in Lebanon. It's the U.S. that has put a lid on the fighting in southern Lebanon for now. So really, you know, the negotiations are going to go as far as the U.S. wants them to. And we've not seen a ton of interest from the U.S. to push them along. You know, we see token things. For example, Israel has given back what they call pilot zones, three pilot zones in southern Lebanon, where they've given the area back to the Lebanese army,

and they're supposed to go there and disarm old weapons caches from Hezbollah and make sure that Hezbollah doesn't come back. But, you know, these are three villages out of something like 73. So, you know, we're seeing Israel drag its feet and the U.S. kind of being okay with that or not having the capacity to do anything about them. So I don't think we're going to see much progress in these talks unless the U.S. really gets involved. But, you know, the Trump administration, their priority is not Lebanon. It's a straight of Hormuz.

Hezbollah in all of this. I wonder if you could just talk. I know you've been doing it throughout, but I wonder if you could just talk to me a little bit more about Hezbollah as an organization, how popular or unpopular it is in Lebanon right now and how it's kind of dealing with multiple rounds of combat since October 7th, 2023. Like, what kind of calculations is Hezbollah making right now? You know, Iran has a doctrine that people talked about for a long time, which is strategic patience. They don't need to win the battle. They need to win the war. And they know that countries like the U.S. have a much lower appetite than they do for fighting these wars. And similarly, I think Hezbollah has

the same sort of principle here. They don't need to win a war with Israel. They just need to survive. And they're doing that. You know, they were devastated militarily from the 2024 war with the Pagers and the killing of Hassan Masrella and a bunch of the senior leaders. But they've seemingly come back. And I think really this last war in March was probably the best gift they could have had for, you know, becoming relevant again in the country. You know, its constituency is very tired. They've been through multiple wars. They've been displaced.

They've had their houses destroyed. They're not doing well. but they're not really seeing an alternative body from them in the country. There's no other representation. What's happened as a result of the war in Lebanon is increasing polarization. People are with Hezbollah are more with them. The people that are against them are more against them. And if the state of Lebanon wants to disarm Hezbollah, they're going to have to woo away

its support base who sees the organization is the only people that help them. I mean, I was working on an article about this topic last week. And as part of that, we talked to a widow of a Hezbollah fighter who was killed in April. And she told me that, you know, Hasbullah found her a house in Beirut and furnished it for her, is covering its rent, perpetuity, is paying for the education of her sons. She gets monthly visits from psychiatrists for herself and the kids to deal with the loss and gets access to support groups. If you compare that to the benefits that a Lebanese,

a widow or a family of a Lebanese soldier that was killed from the government, doesn't even compare. So it's very, very difficult for the state to deal with this sort of deep integration into these communities that Hezbollah has. Well, it's always so interesting to listen to you. Thank you so much for this. Really, really appreciate it. For sure. Good to talk.

All right, that is all 14. today. I'm Jamie Pwesl. Thanks so much for listening. Talk to you tomorrow. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.