Story perspectives

Lebanese Activists Honor Mona Khalil, Turtle-Conservation Hero Killed

6/20/2026

Summary

Mona Khalil Honored

Lebanese activists honored Mona Khalil, who died on June 4 after an Israeli strike hit her Mansouri home.
Khalil founded the Orange House Project, an ecotourism site protecting a stretch that hosts 58 endangered sea-turtle nests annually.
Greenpeace MENA director Julien Jreissati and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon called her a defender of sea turtles and noted she stayed in Mansouri despite Israeli troops and evacuation orders.

Summary

Khalil Overcomes

Khalil’s Ethiopian assistant was burned in the June 4 strike and is recovering.
Tourists at the Orange House Project must get Lebanese military permission because the site sits on land repeatedly invaded by Israel.
The house was hit in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, indicating it has been targeted in several conflicts.
Local developers and dynamite fishers initially opposed Khalil’s conservation, but she eventually overcame the dispute.

Summary

Khalil Secures Hima

Khalil secured protection for the 1.4-km Mansouri shoreline by designating it a “hima” reserve.
The hima places stewardship with community members and municipal authorities instead of the state.
Mansouri lies just north of Israel’s “yellow line,” the informal buffer zone separating occupied villages from Lebanese territory.
An Israeli shell struck the side of Khalil’s house where her bedroom was after she barricaded herself inside and refused evacuation.

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Mona Khalil Honored

Lebanese activists honored Mona Khalil, who died on June 4 after an Israeli strike hit her Mansouri home.
Khalil founded the Orange House Project, an ecotourism site protecting a stretch that hosts 58 endangered sea-turtle nests annually.
Greenpeace MENA director Julien Jreissati and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon called her a defender of sea turtles and noted she stayed in Mansouri despite Israeli troops and evacuation orders.

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