War on culture: Lebanon's heritage sites destroyed in Israeli strikes

For Hussein Jaber, Israel's obliteration of the historic souk of Nabatieh felt personal. It wasn’t just about the loss of old stones and erasure of bygone areas, the arcaded streets of the Ottoman market were tied to his identity and sense of belonging to his beloved southern city.

"This is our history, the best days of our childhood, which we see lying in ruins. All the neighbourhoods that used to bring people together are destroyed," said Mr Jaber, a civil defence rescuer, as he pointed out a pile of rubble where a cluster of shops once lined the alleys of the bustling souk. He stayed in his hometown of Nabatieh throughout the two months of intense Israeli bombardment that ended in a ceasefire on November 27.

"These were people's livelihoods, for people, all this is gone. For what? You can see for yourself, this was a commercial street," he said.

Nabatieh is one of the towns hardest hit by Israeli attacks: its architectural heritage has borne the brunt of the relentless bombardment. The souk in the heart of the city, which dates back to 1910, was largely destroyed in an Israeli strike on October 12, as were two 20th-century heritage buildings, according to local reports.

Throughout the 14-month war, Israeli air strikes have damaged or destroyed several of Lebanon's heritage sites, including Unesco-listed cities such as Baalbek and Tyre. Such attacks have been condemned by local government officials as "deliberate".

"It is a war against culture and, by all means, a war crime," caretaker Minister of Culture Mohammad Mortada told The National. "These are deliberate attacks, as the Israeli army has clearly shown during the war that it can carry out accurate strikes when it wants to do so.

"Some of this damage will be irreparable,” he said.

Cultural and heritage sites enjoy special protection under international law, based on the principle that damage to the cultural property of any people is "damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind", as stated in the 1954 Hague Convention.

International law also protects places of worship, outlawing their damage or destruction or their use as a military base during armed conflict.

The National verified, through first and second-hand evidence, the damage or complete destruction of some historical and religious sites across Lebanon by Israeli forces and compiled a non-exhaustive list. Lebanese authorities are still working on a definitive assessment.

While nearly 4,000 people have been killed by Israel’s attacks on Lebanon – one of the longest continuously inhabited countries in the world – the country’s rich and diverse heritage has been pummelled.

"This is a clear violation of international law," said Isber Sabrine, president of Heritage for Peace, which recently published a report on the destruction of cultural heritage in Lebanon during the war.

"In some areas we documented, particularly in south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, we saw that these attacks on heritage sites were deliberate," he told The National.

"Sadly, this isn’t new in warfare. It’s a tactic we’ve seen many times as a way to erase identity. It became clear in our research that Israel aimed to sever the connection between people and their land by destroying meaningful places that shape cultural identity."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a landmark report this year on the impact of heavy weapons on cultural heritage. It showed how their use causes “psychosocial, economic and other types of harm”, drawing notably upon Israeli forces' destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza. The UN has denounced patterns of destruction in Lebanon similar to the ones in Gaza where civilians “pay the ultimate price”.

The Israeli army has repeatedly claimed its strikes are legitimate -without providing evidence - saying it has been targeting Hezbollah operatives and infrastructure in Lebanon to "degrade" the group. When asked by The National if the Israeli military targeted religious and heritage sites across Lebanon, the army requested further information to investigate. The National supplied the information but the army did not immediately respond.

Unesco-listed cities at risk

Lebanon is home to several Unesco-listed historic cities that have not been spared from Israel's heavy bombing.

Unesco told The National it was "deeply concerned" about the impact of the war "on cultural sites in Lebanon, such as the World Heritage sites of Baalbek and Tyre, near which Israeli air strikes have been reported".

The National visited Baalbek several times during the war. The famous ruins, which date back to the Roman period, have been spared but barely. Lebanon's most famous tourist attractions and host of the Baalbek International Festival cultural event are now closed to the public, with only a handful of caretakers remaining to look after the site. Where tourists once flocked, today only dusty, flattened gates remain.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati is said to have made a call to French President Emmanuel Macron in a bid to spare the ancient Roman ruins, but the surrounding area is still devastated.

Baalbek mayor Moustafa Chal told The National the Roman temples will need to be assessed. "The explosion posed a risk to the structure, even if the effects are not visible immediately," he said.

On November 6, an Israeli air strike destroyed an Ottoman-era building on the edge of the temple complex. Known as "El Menshieh", the structure dated back to the early 19th century and the Ministry of Culture had planned to turn the heritage house into a cultural centre. "We were very keen, but Israel completely destroyed it," Mr Mortada said, adding that Lebanon would file a complaint against Israel for "its actions that affect people, heritage and archaeological monuments".

On the other side of the road, the Palmyra Hotel, which once hosted former French president Charles de Gaulle, was forced to close its doors for the first time in 150 years because of the surrounding damage.

Just 1km from the famous site, the Gourraud barracks, an old French military base converted into a residential building, lies in ruins. It was destroyed on October 28 by an Israeli air strike on the building, killing six people and damaging the adjacent Roman wall.

Hassan Naser El Dine was one of the survivors. Two weeks after the fatal strike, when The National met him, he was sifting through the rubble for his belongings, still in shock. Residents never expected Israel would strike a heritage site. “I thought we were safe; we even told displaced people to join us,” he said.

Despite the widespread destruction, Mr Naser El Dine said he would not leave. At the time, he was sleeping in a nearby garden, on a mattress under a tree. “I don’t care, I’m not leaving my land, come rain or shine” he said.

Qubbat Duris, a 13th-century Ayyubid monument in Baalbek, also sustained slight damage during airstrikes on October 15. It was previously damaged in the 2006 war when an Israeli air strike dislodged one of its stones, which fell to the ground. “The state never had the money to repair it,” the mayor said.

Israel's relentless bombardment also flattened large swathes of Tyre – one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities. The historic ruins have been spared, despite strikes hitting “within the boundaries of the World Heritage Site,” according to Unesco, which stressed that only “a modern building was destroyed”.

The National visited Tyre twice, once during the war and again after the ceasefire, and witnessed destruction on a gigantic scale. Few streets were spared in the city. Despite Israel’s repeated assault, the historic heart of the city is clinging on. Alexander the Great laid siege to Tyre in 323BC, and the city was taken as a colony in 64BCE by the Romans, who rebuilt and refurbished it.

In November, amid intense bombardment, Unesco granted enhanced protection to 34 sites, including Baalbek and Tyre, giving them the highest level of immunity under international law against attack and use for military purposes. Non-compliance with these provisions would constitute “potential grounds for prosecution”.

In south-eastern Lebanon, Tebnin Castle, a historic fortress built during the Crusades, was reportedly bombed on October 8, shattering an outer wall of the old building, according to online pictures.

The Shamaa Citadel, one of 34 cultural sites under Unesco's special protection, has also suffered damage. The Crusader fortress houses a historic shrine dedicated to Shamoun Al Safa (Saint Simon Peter), one of Jesus's 12 Apostles, which was reduced to rubble, as seen in videos.

For Howayda Al Harithy, professor of architecture at the American University of Beirut, Israel's destruction of heritage sites in Lebanon is not "incidental", rather "it is an integral part of the military strategy".

“War is waged not only on armed forces but also on the cultural fabric of nations, with the aim of erasing cultural memory, disrupting identity and weakening societal unity,” she said.

Shattered minarets and crumbling churches

Religious monuments have borne the brunt of Israel’s attacks. The UN reported that Israeli air strikes have destroyed or severely damaged at least 10 such buildings, mostly in the southern border area.

"The consequences are not only physical but also psychological and sociocultural," Prof Al Harithy said.

"Every destroyed mosque, church, or communal space is more than just a building. These sites are repositories of shared memories, rituals and collective histories."

"One of the biggest losses is Kfar Tebnit,” a town in the Nabatieh region, Culture Minister Mr Mortada said. The mosque, which dates back to the Ottoman period, was destroyed in a deliberate Israeli air strike on October 12. Pictures posted online show the broken minaret lying on top of a pile of rubble – a grim scene repeated across the south.

In devastated Bint Jbeil, which The National visited after the ceasefire, an Israeli air strike split the mosque’s minaret in two, leaving the emeraude dome perched on the debris. The Israeli army said it had struck “Hezbollah operatives at a command centre embedded within a mosque”.

In the southern town of Derdghaya, the 100-year-old Greek Catholic Church suffered heavy damage in an air strike on October 9. Photos show the building split in half, with rubble scattered across the site, while images of saints remain intact on the standing walls. Reports indicate that Israel launched three consecutive strikes: one on the church’s reception hall, another on a nearby house and a third on the civil defence centre, killing seven people, including five civil defence workers.

Annihilated border towns

Satellite imagery and open-source intelligence reveal that Israeli forces have completely destroyed several ancient villages in southern Lebanon, effectively erasing centuries of history in an attempt to establish a buffer zone along the border. According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, 37 villages have been entirely wiped out.

In Dhayra, videos shared online on October 13 show the mosque being blown up in a controlled detonation, with its minaret disappearing in a cloud of dust. On October 16, a video showed Israeli soldiers cheering as they demolished a site identified as the historic town of Mhaibib, home to the 2,100-year-old Shrine of Benjamin. Perched on a rocky hill, the shrine is believed to be for Benjamin, the son of Jacob and a descendant of Abraham, and holds deep significance for all three major monotheistic religions.

Videos also captured the destruction of the mosque in the village of Yaroun on October 6, 2024, a mixed Shia and Greek Catholic village. The Greek Catholic Church of Saint George in the village suffered severe damage on November 18, 2024.

"One of the most insidious effects of targeting cultural heritage is its role in forced displacement," Prof Al Harithy said.

"When communities are uprooted, their cultural practices suffer disruption. The physical destruction of heritage goes hand in hand with the loss of cultural continuity, leaving communities not only homeless but culturally orphaned."

Residents from these border villages have not yet been able to return, as the Israeli army is yet to withdraw from the border area.

“Come back to where anyway?” asked Baker Abou Gharyeb, a resident of Dhayra. “They have not left us anything, a mosque, a school, a street, nothing.

“But Inshallah we will rebuild. And rebuild it better."