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.
– 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.
– 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.
– UNESCO said the fortresses had sustained damage and faced ongoing threats from the conflict “serious enough to justify resorting to an emergency procedure.”
– Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame told AFP the endangered listing was “a remarkable achievement in the effort to protect these important Lebanese historical landmarks.”
– 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.
– Also added to the in-danger list was Sebastia, near the West Bank city of Nablus.
– 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.
– 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.
– In 2025, they expropriated around 200 hectares of Palestinian land near the site, saying it was for preservation and development purposes.
– 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.
– “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.
– 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.”
– The sites were added to the endangered list after votes by all 196 member states of the UN agency.