Israeli Strikes Threaten Ancient Lebanese Heritage, Experts Warn

For more than two millennia, the Roman temples in Baalbek, located in eastern Lebanon, have been recognized as some of the world’s most outstanding examples of Roman architecture. On Wednesday, an Israeli air strike impacted a car park situated merely metres from this Unesco World Heritage site. This assault, which also demolished an Ottoman building dating back centuries, underscored what some archaeologists identify as the potential for irreversible harm to historical locations across Lebanon due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. Graham Philip, an archaeology professor at Durham University, states, “Baalbek is the major Roman site in Lebanon. You couldn’t replace it if someone bombed it.” He added, “It would be a huge loss. It would be a crime.” Since late September, Israel has conducted thousands of air strikes against Lebanon, intensifying its campaign against Hezbollah, the Iran-backed organization with which it has been engaged in cross-border hostilities for nearly a year. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have primarily targeted southern Lebanon, districts in the capital Beirut, and the eastern Bekaa Valley. However, over the last two weeks, the campaign has extended into new territories, or rather, very old ones. The IDF informed the BBC that its operations are exclusively aimed at military sites. Nevertheless, these targets are situated remarkably close to the Baalbek temples and the Roman ruins in Tyre, a significant port of the Phoenician Empire approximately 2,500 years ago. According to lore, Tyre is where purple pigment was first produced—a dye extracted from snail shells to adorn royal robes. On October 23, the IDF issued evacuation orders for areas near Tyre’s Roman ruins, including the remnants of a necropolis and a hippodrome. Strikes on targets commenced hours later. Further bombing of these sites was reported the previous week. Footage from the strikes depicted large plumes of black smoke ascending from coastal areas only a few hundred metres from the ancient ruins. While there is no confirmed evidence of damage to the Roman sites in Tyre and Baalbek from the Israeli strikes, Lebanese archaeologists express concern over the proximity of the conflict to these millennia-old ruins, which Unesco acknowledges as possessing exceptional value to humanity. Local archaeologist Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly remarks, “For Baalbek it was even worse than Tyre, because the temples are located within the area that is targeted and [the IDF] did not make any exemption for the temples.” She asserts that no Hezbollah facilities are present at the Baalbek site, stating, “No one knows what the excuse or the message behind the hit is.” The IDF refutes this claim. In a statement to the BBC, it affirmed that it targets military sites in adherence to strict protocols, further noting that it is “aware of the existence of sensitive sites and this is taken into account and constitutes an essential part of the planning of strikes.” The statement continued, “Each strike that poses a risk to a sensitive structure is weighed carefully and goes through a rigorous approval process as required.” Some ordinary Lebanese citizens, reportedly seeking refuge from Israeli bombing, fled to the Baalbek ruins, believing that Israel would not target ancient sites and thus they would offer safety. Ms. Farchakh Bajjaly indicates that “those who didn’t have a car to flee” moved closer to the ruins, under the impression that Unesco sites are considered more valuable than their lives. This situation prompted the local government to issue a cautionary notice advising people against going to the ruins. Ms. Farchakh Bajjaly explains, “They see the site as their shelter. But the site is not a shelter.” Israeli archaeologist Erez Ben-Yosef comments that the war places Israel in a “difficult situation.” He mentioned that damage from the war to significant archaeological sites would represent a “huge loss to the cultural heritage of Lebanon and indeed the entire world.” He added, “However, I know personally that Israel is doing everything it can to prevent such damage.” Ben-Yosef elaborated, “Many of my fellow archaeologists, both colleagues and students, serve in the army and participate in the war… they actively work to prevent such damage, in accordance with the general guidelines of our military.” Graham Philip, the archaeology professor from Durham University, expresses his belief that Israel would not deliberately strike Baalbek or other sites. He states, “It’s hard to see what they would gain in a military sense, bombing a Roman temple.” However, he warned of the danger that some bombs or missiles might deviate from their intended course and hit the ruins, even unintentionally: “If you drop enough ordnance, not all of that lands within 25 metres of the target.” Mr. Philip has been closely observing the effects of Israel’s strikes on heritage sites in Gaza, where it is engaged in conflict with Hamas, leading a British university team documenting archaeological destruction across the territory. He notes that it is still premature to evaluate the extent of damage caused by the current wars in Lebanon and Gaza. Nevertheless, a Unesco survey released in September revealed that 69 cultural heritage sites in Gaza had sustained damage from the war, which commenced with the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. The Great Omari Mosque, Gaza’s oldest mosque, is among these. It was constructed on the site of an ancient Philistine temple before being converted into a church and subsequently a mosque. It was reportedly largely destroyed by an Israeli strike in December 2023. Mr. Philip asserts that these ancient sites serve not only as vital connections to the classical past but are “almost like the soul of a population.” He illustrates, “Imagine how people would feel in Britain if the Tower of London or Stonehenge were destroyed. “It’s part of their identity.””