Prominent Lebanese turtle conservationist dies in Israeli strike: Who was Mona Khalil? | World News
3 min readJun 22, 2026 11:37 AM IST Famous Lebanese conservationist and environmentalist Mona Khalil has succumbed to severe injuries after an Israeli strike hit her home in Tyre last week. Khalil was known for her work to protect nesting sites of endangered sea turtles across the coastline of southern Lebanon, Her death came on a day when Israel intensified air strikes across southern Lebanon, leaving at least 20 people dead, less than 24 hours after the new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah was announced. Khalil worked for the conservation of the endangered species of the green sea turtle, as well as the vulnerable species of the loggerhead sea turtle, as classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. For more than two decades, she protected these turtles who laid their eggs on a beach near ‘The Orange House’, her famous bed-and-breakfast and kept their habitat safe. Protector of the Sea Turtles Khalil’s journey with turtle conservation dates back to a chance encounter with a turtle on the secluded Mansouri beach near Tyre …
