Lebanese turtle guardian Mona Khalil dies after Israeli strike on Mansouri home

A life dedicated to turtles

Mona Khalil was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1949 to Lebanese parents. She later lived in the Netherlands, working as a porcelain restorer, before a chance encounter on a beach near Tyre changed her life. In 1999, while visiting her family's seaside home, she saw a green turtle laying eggs on the sand. She learned that loggerhead and green turtles were critically endangered in the Mediterranean and decided to stay in Lebanon to protect them.

In 2000, after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, she helped establish the Orange House Project, a guesthouse and conservation centre overlooking Mansouri beach. The project grew into a hub for environmental education, marine research and eco-tourism, attracting volunteers from across the world. Khalil spent decades monitoring nesting sites, guarding hatchlings, and campaigning against coastal development and destructive fishing.

The strike and final days

On June 4, an Israeli airstrike hit her family home in the coastal village of Mansouri, about 90 km south of Beirut. Khalil, 76 or 77 by different accounts, was wounded along with her assistant. They were taken to Jabal Amel hospital with severe burns and underwent multiple surgeries. Khalil was later transferred to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, but she died there on the morning of Friday, June 20.

“Inside, I am angry.”

Her sister Amal Khalil remembered her as “a well-rounded person, extremely tough, extremely kind.”

A woman of two worlds

Khalil grew up in Nigeria and attended an American evangelical school in Beirut. She spoke broken Arabic and said in an interview that she felt more Nigerian than Lebanese. Yet she returned to the country of her ancestors and built her life around a stretch of beach she called home. Friends described an unusual bond with the coastline.

“She used to talk about the beach like it was a person. Her bond to the sunset, her bond to the water and the turtles … she was really into conservation, and into the soul, the spirit of conservation.”

Conflict’s toll

Khalil’s death came on a day when Israel intensified air strikes across southern Lebanon. The attacks killed at least 50 people and injured dozens, according to local reports, and risked upending a fragile peace deal between Iran and the United States. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the current round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Environmental group Live Love Tyre said in a statement: “She will be remembered through an incredible legacy. … Her life was selfless and impactful.” Journalist and volunteer Fadia Jomaa added: “It is a loss for all of Lebanon … not just for us. A loss for the life you guarded so faithfully.”