'Israel' stole ancient Lebanese trees, French legal complaint says

• The complaint was brought by an unnamed 37-year-old French businessman whose family says it farmed the land for over 250 years.
• Trees estimated at 600 years old were allegedly removed by ‘Israeli’ soldiers; the suit accuses ‘Israel’ of theft and property destruction, both classified as war crimes.

A war crimes complaint has been lodged in France against the ‘Israeli’ military, alleging that soldiers uprooted and stole an ancient olive grove from a family's land in southern Lebanon.

The complaint was brought by a 37-year-old French businessman, who has not been publicly named. His legal team told AFP that ‘Israeli’ troops removed olive trees estimated to be around 600 years old from land belonging to his family in the village of Zawtar el-Charqiye. 

The civil suit alleges that the destruction and removal of the trees amount to theft and property destruction, both of which qualify as war crimes under international law.

The businessman says his family had farmed the land for more than 250 years before the incident, and that beyond the olive grove, an ‘Israeli’ air strike in April also destroyed the family home. 

He maintains that no relative had any connection to Hezbollah, the armed group that has been engaged in conflict with ‘Israel’ since October 2023.

His lawyers, Vincent Brengarth, William Bourdon, and Nicolas Busin, argued in the court filing that nothing supports the idea that Hezbollah made use of the house or surrounding farmland for military purposes. 

They went further, describing the incident as part of a wider pattern, telling AFP that the actions fit into what they called ‘Israel's’ broader campaign of ethnic cleansing and the leveling of villages across southern Lebanon. 

They added that their client wants French authorities to pursue every possible avenue to identify and prosecute those responsible.

The complaint arrives against a backdrop of heavy casualties in Lebanon. Figures from the country's health ministry put the death toll from ‘Israeli’ attacks since October 2023 at 8,920, with a further 30,595 people injured.

‘Israeli’ forces have also maintained a military presence inside Lebanon itself, occupying a self-declared buffer zone that stretches roughly 10 kilometers into the south of the country. According to Amnesty International's assessment from June, that zone amounts to about six percent of Lebanese territory.

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