Unesco Expands Emergency Shield for Lebanon’s Heritage as Strikes Spread Nationwide
As violence widens across Lebanon, Unesco has moved to place dozens more of the country’s most significant cultural landmarks under “enhanced protection,” a designation intended to strengthen safeguards for heritage during armed conflict.
The UN agency has granted the status to 39 additional Lebanese sites, bringing the total number covered to 73. Alongside the expanded list, Unesco has released more than $100,000 in emergency funding to support urgent measures on the ground, as both monuments and museum-held collections face growing risk.
The decision comes amid what Lebanese heritage officials describe as a sharp escalation. Strikes that were largely concentrated in the south in 2024 are now being reported across the country, including Beirut and regions in the north and east. The shift has raised alarms not only for immovable archaeological sites and historic buildings, but also for movable artifacts that can be damaged, looted, or displaced in moments of sudden instability.
Lebanese authorities and civil society groups moved quickly to secure the new protections. According to Tabet, around 30 people worked intensively over two weeks to assemble the application dossier required for Unesco’s review. He framed the effort as both practical and symbolic. “I can tell you that really everyone in Lebanon is proud of what we have achieved,” he said, adding that protecting heritage in wartime carries moral weight for many Lebanese.
The scale of displacement has complicated nearly every aspect of safeguarding. The UN reports that more than 1.1 million people have been displaced, including hundreds of thousands of children. With communities uprooted, the everyday guardianship that often protects sites from opportunistic damage or theft becomes harder to sustain. As Tabet put it, “The custodians of the sites are the people, and they are not there to protect them.”
Emergency preparations are now underway in multiple locations. In Byblos, teams are making plans to relocate archaeological finds and artifacts to safer areas. Elsewhere, accommodation is being arranged for staff working at heritage sites in case they are forced to flee on short notice. These steps form part of an emergency response supported by Unesco funding.
One site drawing particular concern is the Citadel of Chama’ (“Qalaat Chama”) in southern Lebanon. Added to Unesco’s Tentative World Heritage List in 2025, the fortress dates to at least the third century AD and bears the layered imprint of Crusader, Ayyubid, and Mamluk military architecture. Already damaged in 2006 and again during the 2024 Israeli strikes, it has been carefully restored, but now faces renewed threat. “We are afraid they are going to occupy this area and use the citadel as a military base,” Tabet said.
Unesco is monitoring developments via satellite, while Lebanese experts continue to track conditions from Beirut. The agency has also confirmed damage to the ancient city of Tyre, the Phoenician site in southwest Lebanon inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1984. In Tyre, those responsible for the site have remained at their posts despite the danger, including after an Israeli strike in March damaged the perimeter of one of its Unesco-listed archaeological areas.
For many Lebanese heritage workers, the work is not only about conservation but continuity. “For them the sites are perhaps even more important than their own homes,” Tabet said. “It is a form of resistance for us, to protect our cultural heritage.”
With enhanced protection expanded and emergency measures accelerating, the coming weeks will test whether international mechanisms and local expertise can meaningfully reduce harm to Lebanon’s cultural record — even as the conflict’s geography continues to shift.
