Mona Khalil, a Lebanese environmental activist and pioneer in sea turtle protection, died over the weekend from wounds sustained in an Israeli strike near Tyre, Lebanese media reported. A Lebanese medical source told AFP that the 76-year-old was critically injured in a June 4 attack on her home, which she had turned into an eco guesthouse, in the coastal village of Al-Mansouri.
Khalil had remained in place despite the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel, repeated shelling in the area, and evacuation calls to residents because of Hezbollah activity nearby. In a CNN profile published nearly a decade ago, she said she had also refused to leave her land and the turtles during the 2006 fighting. “I and my animals went through trauma, and I lost some of my hearing. But other than that I’m still alive and kicking,” she said in August 2017. “I live every day to the fullest and do not worry about tomorrow. This project was my dream since I was a child. I have always loved the coast and this land.”
At the start of the 2000s, Khalil founded “The Turtle Beach of Al-Mansouri,” a sanctuary for sea turtles on Lebanon’s southern coast, where loggerhead and green turtles nest. Her seaside house gave its name to the nonprofit she created, the “Orange House Project,” which combined ecotourism and environmental research. After returning from the Netherlands to focus on the project, she invited the public to watch hatchlings emerge and make their way to the sea.
Greenpeace program director Julian Jreissati said Khalil “dedicated decades of her life to protecting sea turtles and the Mansouri coastline.” The Lebanese Society for the Protection of Nature said she had been at the forefront of coastal conservation for decades and helped protect one of Lebanon’s most important nesting sites. The local group Green Southerners called her a pioneer who inspired generations of Lebanese to value and defend their natural heritage.
