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When the Sky Becomes a Weapon: Chemical Spraying, Plausible Deniability, and the Slow Violence Against the Land.

 


There are crimes that explode in a single moment—and then there are crimes that drift.

They fall quietly from the sky. They settle into soil. They poison roots before they reach lungs. And by the time the damage is visible, the perpetrators are already hiding behind language.

In recent weeks, residents of southern Lebanon and parts of southern Syria have watched Israeli aircraft spray unknown substances over green and agricultural areas. Fields were coated. Farmers panicked. UN peacekeepers were told to shelter. Governments demanded answers.

And once again, the world was handed a familiar script: “Non-toxic.”
“Defensive.”
“Unverified.”
“Under investigation.”

This is not a new story. This is a recycled method.

What Is Known — and What Is Being Carefully Left Unsaid

Let us begin with facts, not slogans.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed that the Israeli military notified them in advance of an aerial operation near the Blue Line in which a substance would be sprayed from the air. UNIFIL deemed the act unacceptable and said it violated UN Security Council Resolution 1701, disrupting peacekeeping operations and forcing personnel to take cover.

Lebanese ministries responded by collecting soil and crop samples for laboratory testing. Professional chemical associations issued warnings about potential long-term environmental damage. Farmers reported visible harm to vegetation.

In southern Syria, similar reports emerged from cultivated areas in Quneitra, though independent verification remains limited.

Here is what has not been publicly established:

  • No neutral body has yet released a full chemical analysis
  • No international agency has confirmed the use of banned chemical weapons
  • The exact composition of the sprayed substances remains officially “unknown”

And that “unknown” is precisely the point.

The Power of Ambiguity as a Weapon

International law is not only violated by what is done—but by how uncertainty is engineered.

Spraying chemicals over farmland while refusing independent verification is a form of plausible deniability warfare. It sits in the gray zone between environmental destruction and chemical aggression, between intimidation and contamination.

Israel insists the substance is “non-toxic.”
But non-toxic to whom? Humans? Crops? Soil microbes? Water tables? For one season—or for generations?

If it were truly harmless, there would be no reason to block independent testing, no reason to rely on military self-certification, no reason for UN peacekeepers to be ordered into shelters.

Chemical harm does not need to kill instantly to be criminal. Slow violence counts. Invisible violence counts. Environmental warfare counts.

This Is Not Without Precedent

Palestinians have lived with this reality for decades.

Along Gaza’s eastern boundary, Israeli aircraft have repeatedly sprayed herbicides that drift deep into Palestinian farmland, destroying crops and livelihoods. Israeli courts acknowledged the practice. Human rights organizations documented the damage. Farmers testified to respiratory problems, soil infertility, and economic ruin.

The language was the same then: “Standard.” “Legal.” “Non-lethal.”

The impact was devastating.

Lebanon and Syria are not witnessing something new. They are witnessing the export of a tested model.

Chemical Weapons vs Chemical Harm: A Deliberate Confusion

Critics are quick to respond: “This is not chemical warfare.”

Legally, they may be correct—for now. But morally, the distinction is hollow.

White phosphorus, for example, is not banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention—yet its use over civilian areas has been widely condemned for causing indiscriminate burns, fires, and ecological destruction. Israel’s documented use of it in Lebanon already blurred these lines.

International law was never meant to be gamed through technicalities. It was meant to protect human life and dignity.

When states search for substances that fall just outside legal definitions while achieving the same terrorizing effect, the law is not being respected—it is being exploited.

Why the Silence Is the Loudest Crime

Had Russian aircraft sprayed “unknown substances” over Ukrainian wheat fields, emergency sessions would already be underway. Had any non-Western power done this, headlines would scream environmental warfare.

Instead, we get:

  • cautious phrasing
  • delayed testing
  • and a media chorus addicted to the word “allegations”

The land does not get the benefit of doubt. Crops do not survive press briefings. Soil does not wait for investigations.

This Is About Control, Not Chemicals

The objective is not merely to harm crops. It is to send a message:

We can reach your land without crossing borders.
We can damage without declaring war.
We can deny without accountability.

It is the same logic that governs blockades, aid restrictions, and starvation policies. Dominate life by controlling its conditions.

This is necropolitics extended to ecology.

The Question the World Must Answer

The issue is no longer whether the substance is “toxic enough.” The issue is whether any state should be allowed to spray unidentified chemicals over civilian land without independent scrutiny.

If international law still means anything, there must be:

  • transparent chemical analysis
  • independent investigations
  • environmental reparations
  • and consequences for violations, not excuses

Because once the sky becomes a laboratory, no border is safe. No field is neutral. And no denial is innocent.

History is keeping receipts.
So is the soil.


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