The family of slain Lebanese environmental activist Mona Khalil has appealed for her life's work protecting endangered sea turtles to survive her, warning that the sanctuary she spent decades building on south Lebanon's coast could disappear following her death in an Israeli strike.
Speaking exclusively to The New Arab , Khalil's niece Sarah Beydoun said the family had feared that Mansouri beach, one of the eastern Mediterranean's most important nesting sites for endangered sea turtles, could become another casualty of Israel's war on Lebanon unless her conservation work is protected and continued.
"Our fear is that the beach dies with her; our hope is that it does not," Beydoun said.
Khalil, 76, died on Friday from wounds sustained when an Israeli strike hit her home, the Orange House, on Mansouri beach earlier this month.
The conservationist had spent more than 25 years protecting endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles and transforming a stretch of coastline south of Tyre into a recognised environmental sanctuary.
Her death triggered an outpouring of grief across Lebanon, where she was widely known as the "guardian of the turtles" and a tireless defender of the country's threatened coastline.
But her family says they want people to remember far more than the circumstances of her death.
"We want people to remember her releasing turtle hatchlings into the sea at sunset, digging carefully in the sand to find the nests, holding up a Lebanese flag as she led a group of children from the Orange House children's club to the beach to watch the turtles hatch," Beydoun told The New Arab. "Mona was a force of nature. She lost her only son and chose, out of that grief, to devote the rest of her life to protecting the most defenceless creatures she could find," she added.
For decades, Khalil stood at the forefront of efforts to protect Mansouri beach from unchecked development, illegal fishing and environmental destruction.
What began as a conservation project evolved into a refuge for wildlife , researchers, volunteers and local children, many of whom grew up learning about marine life through programmes she established.
She refused to abandon the beach even as Israeli attacks intensified across south Lebanon.
"Please remember her as a woman who built a sanctuary for people and animals alike," Beydoun said. "And remember that she refused, to the very end, to leave the home and the beach she loved. If you want to honour her, follow her example and protect what remains of our environmental diversity."
The family is now urging Lebanese authorities and international conservation groups to ensure that the work she began does not disappear with her.
Beydoun called for the preservation of Mansouri beach's protected "hima" (Arabic for protected place or sanctuary) status, a traditional community-managed conservation designation that helped shield the coastline from development pressures.
"Mona fought for years against developers who wanted to pour concrete over that coast," she said.
"We hope to rebuild the Orange House one day and continue her legacy. The turtles will keep coming back; we need to support the people Mona trained to continue her work."
Over the years, Khalil mentored a generation of young environmentalists, many of whom now refer to themselves as "Mona's children". Several have already pledged to continue monitoring turtle nesting sites and protecting the coastline she spent her life defending.
The family also wants accountability for the attack that killed her.
"We want you to understand what was lost: not a soldier, not a fighter, but a 76-year-old woman, a conservationist and eco-warrior who spent her life protecting sea turtles," Beydoun said.
"The [Israeli forces] struck her house after she refused an 'evacuation order' to abandon Tyre," she added.
"We do not want her remembered as a number. We want the world to ask how this attack was permitted. They levelled the house on top of her. And we demand that it be investigated," she urged.
Khalil's death has become emblematic for many Lebanese of the wider destruction inflicted on south Lebanon during the war.
Alongside thousands of deaths and injuries, Israeli attacks have devastated homes, farmland, cultural landmarks and fragile ecosystems across the south.
Even as conflict repeatedly engulfed the region, Khalil remained committed to protecting a coastline she believed belonged not only to Lebanon, but to future generations.
Her family says that is how she should be remembered.
"And then we want people to do the thing she would have asked," Beydoun said. "Protect the land, protect the sea, and teach your children to do the same. That was her whole life. Let it be her legacy."
Israel's war on Lebanon has killed more than 4,000 people and wounded around 12,000 others since fighting resumed on 2 March. Large parts of south Lebanon have been heavily damaged, while several areas remain under Israeli occupation.