With fears growing of a broader Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon, archaeologists and NGOs are sounding the alarm over the risks facing several heritage sites across the region. Some are warning of potentially catastrophic cultural loss.
Israel has continued its air strikes in southern Lebanon, issuing evacuation orders that have displaced more than one million people across the country. Left behind are thousands of years of heritage sites that are increasingly vulnerable to damage and, in some cases, complete destruction.
“You have major archaeological and World Heritage sites, like Tyre, that are in the middle of the conflict, but haven’t been directly targeted – yet,” Joanne Farchakh Bajjali, founder and manager of Biladi, a non-profit organisation dedicated to preserving Lebanon’s cultural and natural heritage, tells The National.
“So far, damage to these sites has been collateral. They’re bombing near them, and very frequently,” she says. “But the most direct targeting is happening to local, unregistered heritage – sites that are not officially protected, but are deeply meaningful to local communities.”
Bajjali says these rural sites are the most at risk in the current situation, including historic graveyards, ancestral homes, mosques, churches and shrines – structures that date back thousands of years and form the backbone of southern Lebanon’s cultural identity.
“Villages like Yaroun have seen the destruction of cemeteries. The historic souq in Nabatieh has been damaged. The archaeological site of Harouf has been destroyed,” Bajjali says.
“For national, emblematic sites, there has also been collateral damage, except in some cases like Chamaa, which was directly targeted.”
In response, Biladi and other groups are working urgently to mitigate the damage. The International Alliance for the Protection of Heritage, or Aliph, is investing $50,000 in projects to protect heritage sites and collections across the country, in co-ordination with Lebanon’s Directorate General of Antiquities.
In Beirut, Aliph is also working with the directorate and other partners to expand storage space and improve security, creating the conditions needed to safeguard collections if necessary.
Biladi’s international supporters have stepped up funding, particularly Netherlands-based Cultural Emergency Response, its largest backer. The NGO also receives project-based support from organisations including the UK’s Cultural Protection Fund, the Kaplan Fund and partners in Germany.
“In reality, most of the work is being done by local NGOs, supported by international funding,” Bajjali says. “We don’t have local financial support. It’s very difficult given Lebanon’s economic situation.”
Tyre, Lebanon’s fifth largest city and a Unesco World Heritage site, remains a major focus of concern for experts and organisations. The city, along with Umm Al Amed, Chamaa, Tebnine, Beaufort Castle and Dbayeh, was placed under enhanced Unesco protection in November 2024.
“Since the outbreak of hostilities, several sites of cultural significance have been impacted and damaged,” Unesco said in a statement, adding that it had confirmed damage in Tyre. “We are not yet able to dispatch experts on the ground and will do so as soon as the security conditions allow.”
On Wednesday, Unesco convened an extraordinary meeting at Lebanon’s request, granting provisional enhanced protection to an additional 39 cultural sites and allocating more than $100,000 in emergency funding. The move further underlines the urgency of the situation.
Aliph also carried out a field mission to Tyre last week with local partners to assess conditions on the ground and identify the most urgent protection needs.
David Sassine, Aliph project manager in Beirut, says the organisation is closely monitoring the situation in co-ordination with Lebanese authorities and that “an assessment project launched in 2025 to document damage in the south will resume as soon as conditions allow”.
Because of the danger to human life, most ground assessments are carried out only after hostilities end. By then, it could be too late.
“If there is an invasion and occupation, you lose everything: the land, the history, the environment, the people. Heritage is just one part of that loss,” Bajjali says. Her organisation has halted field reporting and is relying on social media to track the impact on the ground. “I’ve seen olive trees in the south that are 2,000 years old, but they’re not officially recorded as heritage. What happens to them?”
Sassine echoes those concerns, saying the challenges would be “significant”, with access to many sites already restricted, preventing regular monitoring and protection.
“In the event of a ground invasion, these challenges could intensify, increasing the risk of damage, neglect and the inability to implement safeguarding measures,” he says.
Before the war, and now more than ever, local communities are central to Biladi’s work. Bajjali says it was a way of affirming people’s connection to the land. But with survival now the priority, that involvement has stopped.
“You don’t prioritise archaeological assessments while people are dying,” she says, noting that about 22 per cent of Lebanon’s population is now internally displaced.
“Even if communities return, they won’t recognise their own land. We saw this in 2024 – entire villages were destroyed to the point that roads were unrecognisable.”
What Biladi and similar organisations can still do is document.
“When we document heritage, it feels like resistance. We’re not just recording stories,” she says. “We’re documenting architectural value and giving that knowledge back to communities.”
Biladi has previously documented houses in Nabatieh dating back to the 1700s, showing how economic growth shaped architecture between 1900 and 1950.
Bajjali also points to the distinctive architecture of the south and how it connects Lebanon to Palestine and the wider Levant, reflecting shared history, trade and knowledge exchange.
“The major risk is total erasure – of history, identity and presence,” she says. “And based on past experience, there could also be looting and excavation used to reshape historical narratives.”
