World
UNESCO adds war-hit Lebanese city of Tyre to list of world heritage sites in danger
PARIS, France — Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city in southern Lebanon hit by Israeli strikes in recent months, was added on Wednesday to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in danger.
“The site has been directly hit and has sustained damage. Furthermore, its state of conservation is a cause for growing concern, particularly given the possibility of further impacts,” the organization said.
“Optimal conditions are no longer in place to ensure the conservation and protection of the property’s outstanding universal value,” said the UN body, adding that it was the Lebanese government that requested its inclusion on the list.
Tyre, 83 kilometers (50 miles) south of Beirut but barely 20 kilometers from the Israeli border, was placed on the UNESCO heritage list in 1984 and contains mainly Roman-era archaeological remains.
The coastal city was caught up in recent months in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, and most of its inhabitants fled after the IDF issued evacuation orders covering districts, including some archaeological areas.
Hezbollah drew Lebanon into a fresh conflict with Israel in early March when it fired rockets across the border to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Israel responded with heavy strikes and a ground invasion, killing more than 4,300 people, according to Lebanon’s health authorities, which do not differentiate between combatants and civilians. The IDF has said that it has killed over 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since early March.
The ancient city, founded some 4,700 years ago, is home to two protected sites listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites — a Roman triumphal arch and a hippodrome dating from the second century.
One of the sites suffered a direct hit from an Israeli strike in June.
The city, one of the oldest in the Mediterranean, was variously Phoenician, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman.
Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame earlier this year accused Israel of failing to comply with the Hague Convention, which since 1954 has required warring parties to protect cultural sites during armed conflict.
Salame also accused Israel of disregarding “blue shields,” an internationally recognized symbolic emblem which a UNESCO-linked committee established to protect cultural sites during armed conflict.
UNESCO’s decision to inscribe Tyre on its danger list comes as the organization holds the 48th session of its World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea.
As the committee convened on Tuesday, Israel called on it to “reject the cynical weaponization of cultural heritage,” citing Hezbollah’s use of the Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon as a military base.
“For years, Hezbollah has systematically weaponized and desecrated this historic Crusader fortress, converting it into a military stronghold,” Israel said of the castle, which is currently held by IDF forces.
Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets from the Beaufort Ridge toward northern Israel during the current round of fighting, mainly at the border community of Metula, the military said.
“UNESCO’s silence on Hezbollah’s systematic desecration of Beaufort, while targeting Israel’s defensive operations, is a moral abdication,” Israel added.
Israel has accused the organization of being biased against the Jewish state and of diminishing its connection to the Holy Land. Israel also objected to UNESCO’s acceptance of Palestine as a member state. In 2019, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, Israel and the US both quit UNESCO. The US, which subsequently rejoined the agency under former president Joe Biden, is slated to again withdraw at the end of the year.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
