Shafaq News- Beirut

Israel’s military
campaign in Lebanon has extended beyond civilian casualties and damage to
infrastructure to affect dozens of archaeological sites, historic villages,
places of worship, and other cultural landmarks, according to a Lebanese
Ministry of Culture report documenting the conflict’s impact on the country’s
cultural, environmental, and intangible heritage.

Nearly 55 historic
towns and villages in southern Lebanon were destroyed or severely damaged after
the conflict began in 2023 and intensified between 2024 and 2026, with the
destruction extending to traditional homes, religious shrines, churches,
mosques, schools, hospitals, administrative buildings, historic markets,
farmland, and centers housing civil records and personal documents, which the
ministry described as a “direct and systematic” campaign aimed at
erasing Lebanon’s cultural identity, historical landscape, and collective
memory.

Protected Cultural
Sites

Among the affected
landmarks are several sites protected under the 1954 Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its Second
Protocol. They include the ancient city of Tyre and the Al-Bass archaeological site,
both UNESCO World Heritage Sites, as well as Shamaa Castle, Beaufort Castle
(Qalaat Al-Shaqif), and Tebnine Castle, which are included on UNESCO’s
Tentative List for possible World Heritage inscription. The archaeological
sites of Umm al-Amad and Shaqra Castle were also listed among the damaged
locations, alongside the Gouraud Barracks, the Roman wall in Baalbek, the
historic Qubbat Duris, the landmark Palmyra Hotel, and the Al-Manshiya
building.

Places of Worship and
Historic Landmarks

The conflict also
affected churches, mosques, traditional markets, and historic buildings across
southern Lebanon. Historic Maronite, Orthodox, and Catholic churches in Yaroun,
Dardghaya, Sarda, Deir Mimas, Alma Al-Shaab, Nabatieh, Qlayaa, and Khiam were
listed among the damaged sites, along with a Maronite monastery near Baalbek’s
UNESCO-listed archaeological complex.

Historic mosques
include the Prophet Shuayb Mosque in Blida, the Kfartebnit Mosque in Nabatieh,
the Tyre Debba Mosque, Ainata’s heritage mosque, the old mosque in Nabatieh El
Tahta, the Great Mosque of Bint Jbeil, the historic Al-Bayad neighborhood mosque
in Nabatieh, the Prophet Muhaibib Mosque and shrine in Mays Al-Jabal, and the
Prophet Mundhir Mosque in Markaba.

Traditional markets in
Nabatieh —including the Spice Market and the Ottoman Market— as well as the
market of Bint Jbeil also sustained damage. Around 120 historic buildings
across Nabatieh were affected, including parts of the city’s old Serail, the
approximately 150-year-old Shaheen House, and stone houses in Harouf that are
more than a century old.

Historic Villages and
Natural Landscapes

The affected areas
also include dozens of historic villages across the districts of Bint Jbeil,
Marjayoun, Tyre, and Hasbaya, including Aita Al-Shaab, Maroun Al-Ras, Yaroun,
Rmeish, Khiam, Kfarkela, Mays Al-Jabal, Naqoura, Shamaa, Alma Al-Shaab,
Al-Bustan, Al-Bazourieh, Al-Wazzani, and Al-Majidiyah.

The report also
records extensive losses to Lebanon’s natural environment. Centuries-old olive
groves were uprooted across the districts of Tyre, Bint Jbeil, and Nabatieh,
while fig, grape, and carob orchards were destroyed. The ministry further
affirmed that ancient olive, oak, and carob trees were stolen from woodlands in
Hasbaya and Bint Jbeil, and accused Israel of deliberately burning and clearing
oak forests and leveling historic agricultural terraces, altering landscapes
that had been preserved for generations.

Intangible Cultural
Heritage

Beyond the loss of
monuments and cultural sites, the report warns that the conflict has also
disrupted Lebanon’s intangible cultural heritage.

According to the
ministry, the destruction of villages, markets, churches, mosques, cemeteries,
and public spaces has erased important “places of memory” where
traditions and social practices were maintained. It also cautioned that
assaults on areas associated with traditional crafts threaten the continuity of
artisanal skills and community traditions, while the displacement of residents
from southern Lebanon, the Beqaa Valley, and Beirut’s southern suburbs has
interrupted the transmission of customs and traditional knowledge between
generations.

Lebanese Prime
Minister Nawaf Salam previously accused Israel of attempting to erase Lebanon’s
history through its expanding military campaign, saying recent strikes had
increasingly targeted heritage sites alongside homes, schools, hospitals, and
production facilities.