Environment Minister Demands Judicial Investigation into Nabatieh Landfill Fires

Environment Minister Tamar Zain contacted the Public Prosecutor of the Nabatieh Governorate, Judge Najat Abu Shakra, to follow up on procedures taken based on the letter sent by the ministry on October 29, 2026. The letter requested an investigation into solid waste burning operations at the random dump in the Kafrour real estate area, and the resulting risks to the health of Nabatieh residents and their environment.

In her letter, two weeks prior, she warned about the continuation and repetition of burning operations inside the dump, which cause polluting emissions, gases, and particles that threaten public health and affect air quality and the surrounding environment.

She requested opening a judicial investigation into the circumstances of the ongoing fires, and assigning technical experts, if necessary, to determine their direct causes, and clarify whether they resulted from self-combustion due to gas accumulation, or from an external ignition source, or from negligence in management or supervision, paving the way for determining responsibilities and taking appropriate legal measures.

Zain also requested, in case it is proven that the fires are linked to gas accumulation, obliging the responsible entity to prepare and implement the necessary engineering solutions, particularly placing an insulating layer of soil over the waste to prevent fire recurrence, and informing the ministry of the adopted procedures and measures, enabling monitoring of their implementation and evaluation of their effectiveness.

She affirmed the Ministry of Environment's right to file a personal lawsuit against anyone whose involvement in random waste burning is proven through the investigation, and to pursue judicial prosecutions against violators.

Zain called on the relevant municipalities and the municipal union to keep pace with this follow-up and activate their role, within their powers, in protecting residents and limiting pollution sources, through intensified monitoring and field inspections, ensuring regular waste collection and transport, and following up on the case before the competent judiciary, helping to stop the damage and prevent its recurrence.

Zain stressed that she will not hesitate to follow up on this file until responsibilities are determined and necessary measures are taken to protect residents. She emphasized that the people of Nabatieh and the neighborhood have suffered enough from Israeli aggressions, only for landfill pollution to add to their suffering an assault on the air they breathe and the health of their children and elderly.

She considered that anyone who causes this harm or fails to stop it, within the limits of their responsibility, persists in violating people's health, revealing gross disregard for their lives and a lack of sense of responsibility. Residents are not abandoned to waste fumes, and their health and dignity are not open to the manipulation of manipulators or the neglect of negligent parties. Anyone proven responsible must be held accountable according to the maximum extent stipulated by law, confirming that the ministry continues its follow-ups on this file until a final end is put to it.