Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that environmental damage caused by Israeli attacks exceeded $512 million (yaani about 0.512 billion dollars, or 51.2 crore dollars) in 2023 and 2024, with further losses recorded in 2026, as he addressed the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Türkiye.

Source: AzerNews

"Environmental losses resulting from Israeli attacks in violation of international humanitarian law exceeded 512 million US dollars in 2023-2024, with further losses incurred in 2026," Salam said, according to MENAFN's report of his address. The reports carried no Israeli response to the $512 million figure.

Source: MENAFN

Salam stressed that Lebanon's environmental crisis must be viewed alongside the effects of successive wars and years of economic turmoil, which have damaged infrastructure, agricultural land, forests and ecosystems. He warned that the consequences would affect local communities and livelihoods for years, arguing that reconstruction must extend beyond housing and roads to include ecological rehabilitation and agricultural recovery.

16,000 hectares burnt, says environment minister

Lebanon's Environment Minister Tamara El Zein told The National that a report by Lebanon's National Council for Scientific Research described years of Israeli warfare as leaving farmland unusable and destroying crops, forests and marine life, contaminating soil with phosphorus and releasing toxins into the air over wide areas. From October 2023 until September 2026, she said, Lebanon had already lost 16,000 hectares — completely burnt.

Source: The National, via NewsCord's multi-outlet comparison

TRT World and Lebanese outlets including Naharnet and Elnashra also reported Salam's COP31 remarks, which put a single headline figure on damage that Lebanese officials have been documenting in the south since 2023.

Salam spoke while fighting continued in southern Lebanon, where Israeli shelling hit five towns this week as drones flew over Beirut. Read this week's southern Lebanon shelling report

COP31 opened in Antalya on Monday and runs until November 20, bringing together world leaders and negotiators to discuss climate financing, adaptation and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Salam's address linked Lebanon's climate case directly to war damage — an argument that reconstruction funding and climate finance cannot be separated for countries whose farmland and forests have been burnt by conflict.