Bird protection group says storks are being shot with automatic weapons in north Lebanon

Migrating white storks are being shot down in large numbers in north Lebanon, some with automatic rifles, according to the German Committee Against Bird Slaughter, as reported by Austria's Kronen Zeitung.

The committee says it has verified a video circulating on social media in which a flock of storks circling over rooftops is hit by bursts of gunfire. It reports several mass shootings, especially in the mountains east of Tripoli and along the Syrian border. "Countless storks are shot there every year," said Axel Hirschfeld, who was in Lebanon for the committee until last week, adding that some birds are found with their breast meat removed.

Hunting protected species is illegal in Lebanon, yet some poachers post photos of their kills and videos showing Kalashnikov-type weapons, the paper reports.

The episode is a reminder that enforcing the law, and the state's control over weapons, matters well beyond politics: it also protects Lebanon's nature and its reputation abroad.