The Shwakir Construction cause

Since the late summer of 2024, the Green Southerners Association has been following with great concern the construction works taking place in the Shwakir area – Tyre, located within environmentally and archaeologically sensitive properties. This area forms a direct extension of the Tyre Coastal Nature Reserve and is situated within the city of Tyre, which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The association has documented, through reports and photographs, excavation, leveling, landfill, and the construction of an earthen embankment in the middle of this site, all carried out in the absence of mandatory environmental and archaeological impact assessments. This constitutes a blatant violation of the environment and heritage, as well as a breach of Lebanese laws and international agreements (Environmental Law 444/2002, Decree 8633/2012, Ramsar Convention 1999, World Heritage Convention 1972).

The association took administrative action by writing to the Ministry of Environment (September 11, 2024; February 2, 2025; April 8, 2025), the Ministry of Culture (February 20 and March 27, 2025), and the Ministry of Defense. It also filed a complaint with the Public Environmental Prosecution (February 10, 2025) and brought a case before the Urgent Matters Judge in Tyre (March 6, 2025), who issued a ruling on March 11, 2025, to immediately halt the works under the threat of a financial penalty. Despite these binding judicial decisions, the works have continued on the ground to date, in a serious challenge to the rule of law.

The association considers the Shwakir issue a stark example of legal violations and state negligence in protecting natural and cultural sites, representing a real threat to what remains of Tyre’s environmental, agricultural, and coastal heritage. Therefore, the association demands the immediate cessation of construction, the revocation of any illegal permits, the deployment of official environmental and archaeological inspection missions to assess the damages, and the integration of the area into protection and conservation plans.