Adonis El Khatib, President of the Middle East Center for Sustainable Harvest and Anti-Poaching (MECSHAP), accompanied by Shirine Bou Rafoul—Operations and International Coordination Officer within the Land Operations Division of the APU, and CABS Representative in Lebanon—paid a courtesy visit to the Bekaa Public Prosecutor, Judge Marcel Haddad. The visit aimed to meet him in person and express gratitude for his strong support of recent field missions carried out in cooperation with the Bekaa Regional Command and the Bekaa Investigation Unit.
The missions resulted in the removal of approximately 8,000 meters of illegal “extermination nets” in a single day across Arsal, Al-Qaa, Jabbouleh, Al-Ain, and Massa—considered among the largest net-removal operations in the history of anti-poaching efforts in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Judge Haddad reaffirmed his support for the anti-poaching path as a key pillar for protecting sustainable hunting and biodiversity. Drawing on his own experience as a former hunter, he emphasized that nature is best protected by the responsible hunter, and that illegal hunting harms committed, law-abiding hunters first and foremost.
For their part, the MECSHAP delegation stressed that effective cooperation between the judiciary, civil society organizations, and security forces is essential to achieving tangible results on the ground, noting that justice will ultimately take its course when proper follow-up, coordination, and professional documentation are in place.
