Lebanese turtle conservationist dies after strike on coastal home

Mona Khalil, a leading Lebanese marine conservationist, died Friday after an Israeli airstrike hit her beachside home in southern Lebanon two weeks earlier, NPR reported. Her death removes a central figure in efforts to protect sea turtle nesting sites along the Mediterranean coast near Tyre.

Khalil was 76, according to NPR. Relatives told NPR that her Ethiopian housekeeper was also injured in the attack, though less severely. The two women were the only people in the house, known locally as the Orange House, near al-Mansouri beach.

The Israeli military told NPR last week that it had no indication it had struck the house and was checking its records. NPR reported that the military did not answer a follow-up question about when that review would be finished.

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon and says it is targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure, according to NPR. The Lebanese health ministry says more than 4,000 people have been killed since the war began on March 2, including at least 600 women and children. Israel says Hezbollah attacks have killed 35 soldiers, a military contractor and two civilians.

A home turned conservation hub

Fadia Joumaa, a former volunteer who later took over the turtle conservation work, told NPR that Khalil had refused to leave her home during the fighting. Joumaa said Khalil believed she was protected by her civilian status and by the absence of nearby targets.

Khalil became associated with the turtles after an encounter on the beach roughly 25 years ago, according to Rami Khachab, a herpetologist from al-Mansouri who volunteered with her as a high school student. He told NPR that a nesting green sea turtle threw sand onto Khalil while she was having a drink on the beach, prompting her to contact European turtle protection groups and learn about the species.

Khachab said Khalil began monitoring nests, recording data and organizing protection for green sea turtles and loggerhead turtles. Volunteers would search beaches before dawn for eggs laid overnight, cover nests with wire mesh and later help hatchlings reach the water, NPR reported.

The work addressed threats including coastal development, marine trash and predators that eat eggs and hatchlings, according to NPR. Newly hatched turtles have about a 1-in-1,000 chance of surviving to adulthood, NPR reported.

Legacy on Lebanon’s coast

Green Southerners, an environmental group, said Khalil used the Orange House to encourage Lebanese volunteers to protect coastal ecosystems and the country’s natural heritage. The group described her as one of Lebanon’s respected voices on marine conservation and biodiversity, and called for accountability for the deaths of Khalil and other civilians.

Joumaa told NPR she first approached Khalil as a journalist seeking to write about her. Instead, Joumaa said, Khalil told her she would have to work alongside her before writing, and Joumaa went on to volunteer with the project for years.

By the time Khalil retired in 2020, Joumaa said, the Orange House had become a guesthouse for ecotourism, a place for children’s education and a turtle observation site. Joumaa also told NPR that Khalil’s campaigns against beach privatization and construction helped turn local nesting areas into an officially recognized community-based conservation area.

Khalil’s campaigns also included work against dynamite fishing, Joumaa told NPR. She said the activism drew local hostility at times, including gunfire at Khalil’s house from opponents, but Khalil kept pressing volunteers to defend the beach, the turtles and Lebanon.

This story draws on original reporting from NPR.