UNESCO adds protection
to threatened heritage sites

Baalbek, Tyre, Anjar

National and Sursock Museums

UNESCO has added 34 historic sites in Lebanon to its enhanced protection list, responding to the increasing threat posed by the ongoing conflict with Israel. This decision, made during an emergency session of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict on November 18 in Paris, follows an Israeli airstrike that recently came perilously close to the ancient Roman ruins of Baalbek.

“UNESCO has a deep and long-standing cooperation with Lebanon. We will spare no effort to provide all the expertise and assistance needed to protect its exceptional heritage,” said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s director-general, in a statement.

Lebanon’s cultural authorities have urgently appealed for international intervention to safeguard its historic sites, including the World Heritage Sites of Baalbek and Tyre. These are among six Lebanese sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. Other cultural properties receiving enhanced protection include Beirut’s Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock Museum, closed due to the conflict, the National Museum of Beirut, and the Majdel Anjar Temple, a Roman temple dating back to 41 CE in West Bekaa.

In a statement, UNESCO confirmed its close collaboration with Lebanese cultural authorities since the conflict’s escalation in September. The organization is supporting efforts to identify emergency protective measures, inventory museum collections, and relocate movable artifacts to safer locations within Lebanon.

Israeli airstrikes had targeted the ancient city of Tyre, home to some of the world’s best-preserved Roman ruins, including a large hippodrome.

Earlier strikes on Baalbek endangered its famed triad of Roman temples devoted to Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury, which have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. Widely circulated images showed of smoke plumes rising near Baalbek’s Jupiter Temple. The strikes have forced thousands of civilians to flee the area and jeopardized other archaeological treasures, including the 1243 CE Qubbat Doris shrine, where one of the stones from its dome was reported to have broken off. Two historic city walls—one from the Ottoman era and another dating to the French Mandate—also sustained heavy damage.

The inclusion of the 34 sites under UNESCO’s enhanced protection guarantees them the highest level of safeguard against attacks. “Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute ‘serious violations’ of the 1954 Hague Convention and could lead to prosecution,” UNESCO stated.

With these measures, the organization aims to prevent further destruction of Lebanon’s rich cultural heritage, even as the conflict continues to escalate.