Complaint filed in Paris against the Israeli army after the uprooting of centuries-old olive trees in Lebanon

Complaint filed in Paris against the Israeli army after the uprooting of centuries-old olive trees in Lebanon

A French businessman born in Lebanon has filed a complaint against persons unknown for war crimes, targeting the Israeli army, which he accuses of uprooting 600 centuries-old olive trees belonging to his family, his lawyers told AFP on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old Frenchman denounces the uprooting of trees, some of which he claims were half a millennium old, on land cultivated for 250 years by his family in Zawtar el-Charqiyé, his native village in southern Lebanon.

According to his civil suit filed for theft, destruction, and damage to property constituting war crimes, and which AFP has seen, the trees were uprooted, roots and all.

The man, whose complaint specifies that he is "neither a member nor a supporter of Hezbollah," suspects they were transferred to Israel. "There is no evidence to suggest that Hezbollah was using the house or the agricultural fields as military equipment," the document adds.

Reporting by AFP