Environmental Warfare: From Vietnam to South Lebanon—Poisoning the Land as a Colonial Doctrine

Environmental Warfare: From Vietnam to South Lebanon—Poisoning the Land as a Colonial Doctrine

Western liberal discourse often treats the environment as a luxury, dismissing its destruction during wartime as "collateral damage." However, those who till the soil and resist upon it know that nature is the artery of resistance and the sanctuary of existence. When colonialism fails to break human will, it turns to poisoning the land that sustains them.

The "Ecocide" Doctrine

What we are witnessing today in South Lebanon—specifically the occupation's use of agricultural aircraft to spray chemical agents over border areas under the pretext of "clearing the terrain"—is not a technical security measure. It is a direct continuation of the scorched-earth policy formulated by imperialism in Vietnam. In the 1960s, the U.S. sprayed over 70 million liters of Agent Orange over Vietnamese forests. The overt goal was to "deprive the resistance of cover," but the true objective was to destroy food sovereignty, shatter ecological balance, and leave carcinogenic scars in the DNA of future generations. Today, the Zionist entity repeats this crime in Lebanon, utilizing the "ceasefire" period to conduct a silent chemical aggression.

South Lebanon: The Land as an Enemy

Field reports indicate that the substances released by the occupation’s drones and aircraft are not mere herbicides; they are carcinogenic compounds that ruin soil fertility. Targeting the lush vegetation of the southern spring aims to:

1. Strip Biological Cover: Turning border villages into barren, exposed zones to facilitate the targeting of any human movement.

2. Economic Destruction: Poisoning the soil and groundwater to strike the agricultural sector—the backbone of resilience for the people of the South.

3. Environmental Displacement: Rendering life health-hazardous by spreading chronic diseases and contaminating essential life sources.

Colonial Logic: If I Can’t Own It, I’ll Ruin It

This behavior exposes the core of the Zionist logic: land that resists does not deserve to live. When the tank fails to stabilize an occupational reality, chemistry is deployed to finish the task. They fear the trees as they fear the people; they fear the "woods" of the South because they cradle the spirit of resistance.

International Silence: An Old Complicity

The silence of the "international community" regarding the ecocide in Lebanon and Palestine mirrors its complicity in Vietnam. It seems environmental destruction becomes an "acceptable face" of warfare when the victims are those who refuse subjugation. Targeting Lebanese soil with carcinogenic agents is a full-fledged war crime and a violation of all international laws prohibiting collective punishment. But the resistance that sprouted from this land knows how to protect its roots. If the enemy believes that poisoning the trees will halt the march of history, they are ignorant of a land—and a people—that have survived much worse.

The question remains:

Will the world wait decades to acknowledge the environmental holocaust in Lebanon and Palestine, as it did with Vietnam? Or does the destruction of our planet become secondary when it serves the security of the occupation?