Lebanon accused Israel on Wednesday of spraying herbicide on the Lebanese side of their shared border, with President Joseph Aoun decrying a “crime against the environment.”

The Lebanon border area has dense vegetation, which Israeli military officials have said poses a challenge to forces. It is believed that clearing the vegetation is intended to aid the military in identifying terrorists trying to infiltrate Israel or carry out attacks on the border.

Footage has also emerged of Israeli agricultural planes deploying substances inside southern Syria on at least three occasions last week.

There has been no comment from Israel on the herbicide deployment in both Lebanon and Syria.

After collecting samples following the recent spraying, the Lebanese Agriculture and Environment Ministries said some of them showed concentrations of herbicide glyphosate “20 to 30 times higher than the average” in the area.

In a joint statement, the ministries expressed worries about “damage to agricultural production” and soil fertility. Aoun denounced the spraying as a “flagrant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime against the environment and health.”

Glyphosate is a commonly used herbicide. In 2015, the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as........

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