UNESCO puts Lebanon, West Bank heritage sites on danger list

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The UN’s cultural agency on Friday placed locations including a Lebanese castle recently conquered by Israeli forces and an archaeological site in the occupied West Bank on its list of World Heritage in Danger.

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Beaufort Castle, a Crusader fortress also known as Qalaat al-Shakif, was captured by Israeli forces invading Lebanon in May as part of their war with militant group Hezbollah.

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It is one of five castles in the Jabal Amel area of southern Lebanon listed together by UNESCO. The mountainous area has come under repeated Israeli bombardment during the war.

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UNESCO said the fortresses had sustained damage and faced ongoing threats from the conflict “serious enough to justify resorting to an emergency procedure”.

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Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame told AFP the endangered listing was “a remarkable achievement in the effort to protect these important Lebanese historical landmarks”.

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He said only two of the castles were “within the Lebanese government’s reach” and accused Israel of having already destroyed Shamaa Castle and threatening to demolish Beaufort.

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Also added to the in-danger list was Sebastia, near the West Bank city of Nablus.

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The site is thought to be the ancient Israeli and later Roman city of Samaria, whose name Israel still uses to refer to the northern West Bank.

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In recent years, Israeli authorities have taken an interest in the site, which sits near the modern Palestinian town of Sebastia but is in an area controlled exclusively by Israel.

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In 2025, they expropriated around 200 hectares of Palestinian land near the site, saying it was for preservation and development purposes.

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While Palestinians in Sebastia have developed a tourism industry based on the site, the new Israeli plans threaten to bypass it with an Israelis-only road, a fence and entry fees.

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“The integrity of the site is currently threatened by an expropriation project aimed at subdividing the property and creating the ‘Samaria’ (Shomron) National Park,” UNESCO said.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hit back at the listing, blaming it on Palestinians and saying it was an attempt at “erasing and denying the Jewish connection to this land”.

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The sites were added to the endangered list after votes by all 196 member states of the UN agency.

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AFP

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