A Franco-Lebanese entrepreneur files a complaint in France against the Israeli army for uprooting century-old olive trees

A French entrepreneur born in Lebanon has filed a complaint against This 37-year-old Frenchman denounces the uprooting of trees, some of which he says were half a millennium old, on land cultivated for 250 years by his family in Zawtar el-Charqiyé, his native village in southern Lebanon.

“Neither a member nor a sympathizer of Hezbollah”

According to his complaint with civil action filed for theft, destruction and damage to property constituting war crimes or offenses, and of which the AFP was able to learn, the trees were uprooted, roots included. The man, whose complaint specifies that he is “neither a member nor a sympathizer of Hezbollah,” suspects their transfer to Israel. “There is no evidence to support that Hezbollah used the house or agricultural fields as military equipment,” the document adds.

According to the complainant, a digital entrepreneur, his family home was completely destroyed by an Israeli airstrike a few hours before the announcement of a ceasefire in southern Lebanon, in April 2026. “The total capture of the sector” by the Israeli army took place a few weeks later, followed by the uprooting of the olive trees, after the signing of a framework agreement at the end of June between Lebanon and Israel, he recalls.

“Symptomatics of war crimes committed by Israel”

“The destruction and uprooting of olive trees are symptomatic of the war crimes committed by Israel in southern Lebanon,” explains the complaint, which cites in particular an Amnesty International report. “These facts are part of the broader framework of ethnic cleansing and the destruction of numerous villages by Israel in southern Lebanon,” his lawyers Vincent Brengarth, William Bourdon and Nicolas Busin told AFP. “Our client expects French justice to do everything possible to identify and prosecute those responsible.”

Lebanese officials, NGOs and residents have already denounced the destruction of agricultural land, particularly by fire, carried out in southern Lebanon by Israel, since the start of hostilities with the pro-Iranian movement Hezbollah in October 2023. Contacted in August about this destruction, the Israeli army indicated that it was “aware of the potential environmental impact of its activities in the region” and was taking “precautionary measures to reduce the damage caused to civilians and the environment”. AFP requested it again on Wednesday.

Other complaints filed in Paris target the action of the Israeli army in Lebanon, including that of a Franco-Lebanese artist, Ali Cherri, who lost his parents in April in an Israeli strike against a residential building in Beirut at the end of 2024, and that in July of another Franco-Lebanese who lost his mother, his sister and two nephews in Israeli strikes.