INTERVIEW

Migratory birds in Lebanon: Forced to endure war and victims of illegal hunting

Airstrikes force birds to change their routes and to land in unfamiliar places, becoming easy targets for poachers, laments expert Michel Sawan.

Hundreds of storks resting on a plain in the village of Meshmesh, Akkar, in April 2026. (Credit: Michel Hallak/L’Orient Today)

Lebanon, located on the second most traveled migratory corridor between Europe and Africa, has become an increasingly dangerous passage for migratory birds. Fighting in southern Lebanon and, less frequently, over the Bekaa, marked by the intense use of drones and air raids, forces them to alter their paths, making them even more vulnerable to illegal hunting, which is widespread due to the lack of strict law enforcement. Read more In a southern Lebanon under Israeli fire, wildlife suffers in silence Although last autumn's hunting season was not opened because of delays in appointing members to the Higher Hunting Council, poaching takes place year-round and almost with impunity in all Lebanese regions, environmentalists denounce. The Internal Security Forces (ISF), charged with enforcing the law, are undermined by the economic...
Lebanon, located on the second most traveled migratory corridor between Europe and Africa, has become an increasingly dangerous passage for migratory birds. Fighting in southern Lebanon and, less frequently, over the Bekaa, marked by the intense use of drones and air raids, forces them to alter their paths, making them even more vulnerable to illegal hunting, which is widespread due to the lack of strict law enforcement. Read more In a southern Lebanon under Israeli fire, wildlife suffers in silence Although last autumn's hunting season was not opened because of delays in appointing members to the Higher Hunting Council, poaching takes place year-round and almost with impunity in all Lebanese regions, environmentalists denounce. The Internal Security Forces (ISF), charged with enforcing the law, are undermined by the economic...
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