Across northern Israel's lush, green nature reserves, the ecological toll of the war between Israel and Hezbollah militants is laid bare: wild boar hit by shrapnel, trees reduced to ashes and swathes of charred vegetation.
In the Hula Valley, home to a unique migration sanctuary for birds, a flock of common cranes and their cacophony of calls fill the air -- but smoke billows in the distance and their sounds soon compete with the whir of Israeli military helicopters overhead.