Renowned Lebanese Sea Turtle Conservationist Mona Khalil Dies After Israeli Strike]
Mourners gathered in Beirut on Sunday to honor Mona Khalil, a revered Lebanese conservationist who died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike on her home in southern Lebanon earlier this month.
Khalil, 77, was critically wounded in the attack in al-Mansouri village within Tyre province on June 4 and passed away two weeks later. Her death triggered an outpouring of grief from environmentalists and volunteers who had worked alongside her for years.
The Orange House Project, which Khalil helped transform into a conservation center and ecotourism site, became a sanctuary for endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles while serving as a training hub for volunteers documenting nesting patterns along Lebanon’s coast.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1949, Khalil held Dutch and Lebanese citizenship after living in the Netherlands before returning to Lebanon, where she established the Orange House in what was once her grandmother’s home.
Her conservation journey began in 1999 when a turtle emerged on al-Mansouri beach to lay eggs, inspiring her lifelong dedication to protecting the species. Each nesting season, she and volunteers patrolled the beach overnight, relocating vulnerable nests from human activity and light pollution.
Journalist and environmental activist Fadia Jomaa first met Khalil in 2016 while researching sea turtles and subsequently volunteered with her project. During the 2024 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, Khalil initially refused to evacuate al-Mansouri beach, leaving only after the Lebanese army insisted for her safety.
“She was the last one to leave the area,” Jomaa recalled. “She had a hard time in Beirut, but she longed to return to the south and the Orange House she had protected for so long.”
Khalil frequently spoke of her desire to be buried near the beach she loved. “My soul will stay here,” she would say, pointing to an olive tree or hill overlooking al-Mansouri beach. “This is where you will bury me.”
The location of her eventual burial remains uncertain due to ongoing security concerns in the region.
