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Palestine·Lebanon·Israel·Middle East·Human Rights·Armed Conflicts·Diplomacy

UNESCO adds West Bank and Lebanese sites to endangered heritage list amid Israeli objections

Saturday, 25 July 2026, 06:12 · 1 min read

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, meeting in Busan, South Korea, has placed six sites in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon on both its main World Heritage and endangered heritage lists simultaneously, using an emergency procedure in response to ongoing conflict in the region. The sites include Sebastia (a hilltop archaeological site near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, identified by historians as the ancient capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel) and five medieval castles in Lebanon's Mount Amel region, among them Beaufort Castle, which was seized by Israeli forces in May. The listings, approved despite a campaign by Israel's foreign ministry to block them, follow an earlier emergency designation for the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre; Lebanon says one of the five castles, Shamaa, has already been destroyed by Israeli bombardment, while Israel disputes claims of damage, alleging the sites had been used for military purposes by Hezbollah.

Sources
Al Jazeera Arabic"لمواجهة التدمير الإسرائيلي".. اليونسكو تدرج آثار صور وجبل عامل على قائمة الخطر ↗︎Al Jazeera EnglishUNESCO places occupied West Bank, Lebanon sites on endangered heritage list ↗︎
Also covered by
BBC Arabic · France24 · Le Monde Afrique · RFI
This article was automatically compiled by AI from the sources above. It may contain inaccuracies. Always read the original sources for the full context.