UNESCO calls for emergency session to protect heritage sites in Lebanon

Known for its pristine beaches, ancient port and Roman ruins, the ancient Phoenician coastal city of Tire in Lebanon has turned into a ghost town after a series of Israeli airstrikes.

At the end of October, Israel dropped several bombs at key heritage sites in the city, including the Hippodrome, a Unesco world heritage site, and a number of seaside sites linked to the Phoenicians and Crusaders. The attacks come amid Israel’s escalating war against Hezbollah in Lebanon; This war intensified after September 17, when hundreds of pagers used by members of the militant group went off across the country.

Other heritage sites in Lebanon have also been affected, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and Joanne Bajjaly, an archaeologist and founder and director of the Lebanese NGO Biladi.

These include the historic 19th-century Ottoman-style market of the city of Nabatieh, which includes the Saraya and Midan neighborhoods; Old religious places such as Tayr Debba Mosque, Kfar Tebnit Mosque; Dardghaya Church; and Blida Mosque — all of which have been designated as heritage buildings. Additionally, archaeological sites such as the Citadel of Tebnin, a major Crusader stronghold, were directly hit by air strikes.

Israeli airstrikes in eastern Lebanon yesterday seriously damaged an Ottoman-era building close to Roman ruins in the Unesco World Heritage-listed city of Baalbek, home to some of the world’s largest imperial monuments, according to Lebanon’s culture minister. Roman architecture. At least 40 people lost their lives in the recent attacks. An attack in the Baalbek region at the end of October killed 19 people, according to the country’s health ministry.

Bajjaly says that due to nearby bombing, one of the stones on the “Qube” or “dome” of Qubbat Doris, the site of Baalbek’s 1243 AD Muslim shrine, fell to the ground. “The monument itself is still standing” although the strikes have come very close to that, he says.

“We do not yet know the extent of the impact of sustained seismic movements and vibrations on the monuments due to the bombings,” he adds. “This damage cannot be predicted. At the moment, no one can determine the damage caused by the war or measure the strength of the vibration in the soil. The constant pollution of the air and the chemicals in the air are also harmful. No one will know how these will affect the stones in the monuments,” says Bajjaly.

UNESCO called for an emergency session on November 18, at the request of the Lebanese Minister of Culture, Mohammed Al Murtada, to implement urgent measures to protect cultural sites in Lebanon. The Ministry of Culture will be represented at this meeting by Lebanon’s UN Ambassador Moustapha Adib and director general of antiquities Sarkis Khoury.

In response to the situation in Lebanon, Aliph, a Geneva-based global fund dedicated to the preservation and rehabilitation of heritage in conflict zones and post-conflict situations, contributed $100,000 to these emergency measures.

Additionally, Aliph works with Lebanon’s directorate general of antiquities and Biladi on the preservation of the collections of several Lebanese museums.

Zeina Arida, director of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, and former director of the Sursock Museum in Beirut, says: “This war marks the first complete closure of the Sursock. All the artworks are in storage.”

Valéry Freland, managing director of Aliph, says: “We try to develop preventive measures for countries in conflict, but it is often difficult to predict when such measures will be needed. “We still need to assess the level of damage.”