Unesco Director General Khaled El Enany visited Beirut on Wednesday where he met President Joseph Aoun and was shown the precarious state of some of the country's most famous cultural sites amid Israel's continuing war and occupation.
Last month, Unesco added five castles in southern Lebanon to its List of World Heritage in Danger, on an emergency basis. The southern city of Tyre, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places of human settlement in the world, was also added to the list earlier this year amid Israel's repeated attacks on the city and the wider south of Lebanon.
Mr Aoun said such solidarity from Unesco demonstrated “a growing international awareness of the seriousness of the threat to Lebanese cultural heritage resulting from repeated Israeli attacks on the south”. Mr Aoun said the five castles “embody centuries of history in southern Lebanon” and are “an integral part of the heritage of all humanity”.
Mr El Enany gave Mr Aoun a plaque commemorating the inclusion of the five castles – Beaufort, Shamaa, Chaqra, Deir Kifa and Tebine – on the endangered list. Beaufort, a famous crusader castle, is at particular risk and is currently occupied by Israel. When Israel carried out extensive demolitions in the vicinity of Beaufort earlier this month, the explosions were so intense that they measured 3.8 on the Richter scale.
Unesco said these sites “bear witness to the evolution of defensive systems in the region from the era of the Crusades and Islamic dynasties through to the end of the 19th century”.
“At this pivotal moment, Unesco remains firmly engaged alongside the country as it moves from emergency response towards recovery and renewed confidence in the future,” Mr El Enany said after meeting Mr Aoun.
The Unesco head also met with Lebanon's Culture Minister, Ghassan Salame. “This decision confirms the international community's determination not only to preserve the exceptional universal value of this heritage, but also to support efforts aimed at protecting, restoring, ensuring its continuity, and transmitting it to future generations,” Mr Salame told Mr El Enany, while also thanking Unesco for its support.
The two men will later travel to Al Bass in Tyre – the ancient city's most famous archaeological site – which was partly damaged by an Israeli strike in its all-out war with Hezbollah earlier this year.
In early June, an Israeli air strike destroyed one of Tyre's oldest traditional houses next to the archaeological site, damaging its entrance. The blast hurled debris into the site, decapitating one of the Roman columns.
The Lebanese government has submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva documents detailing Israeli attacks on Lebanon's historical and cultural heritage that breach international humanitarian law.
