[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2182689138.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tBlue shields now guard 34 archaeological sites across Lebanon, as the country moves to protect its cultural heritage amid escalating air and ground assaults from Israel, the Lebanese Culture Ministry announced Sunday. The shields signal that the sites are protected under international agreements regarding cultural property during wartime.<\/p>\n
\n\tCulture Minister Ghassan Salameh told Lebanon\u2019s National News Agency that the move aims to comply with the 1954 Hague Convention, which requires safeguarding cultural heritage\u2014including monuments and artworks\u2014against destruction during armed conflict. \u201cThe ministry did not stand idly by,\u201d Salameh said, noting that he appealed directly to UNESCO Director-General Khaled Anani on the first day of the conflict to ensure all parties comply with the convention.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBlue shields have been placed on archaeological sites so that the enemy will be aware of them and respect the convention,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn 2014, 34 historic sites were granted heritage enhanced protection from UNESCO shortly after an Israeli airstrike near Baalbek\u2014a Roman temple complex on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The decision was reached at an\u00a0emergency session\u00a0of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, attended by Lebanon\u2019s UNESCO adviser. Salameh noted, however, that several Lebanese cultural sites remain outside UNESCO\u2019s protection.<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to the report, the wider US\u2013Israel\u2013Iran conflict \u2014 which has spilled into southern Lebanon after a Hezbollah\u2011led aerial strike on Israel \u2014 has already resulted in damage to cultural venues and heritage areas across the country. The Al-Bass archaeological site in Tyre has sustained damage, along with 11 public libraries across Lebanon\u2014three completely destroyed and about ten partially damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tUNESCO spokesperson said earlier this month that the agency \u201cis already supporting Lebanon, having communicated to all parties the geographic coordinates of sites on the World Heritage List, as well as those of national significance, to help prevent any potential damage.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2182689138.jpg?w=1024″] Blue shields now guard 34 archaeological sites across Lebanon, as the country moves to protect its cultural heritage amid escalating air and ground assaults from Israel, the Lebanese Culture Ministry announced Sunday. The shields signal that the sites are protected under international agreements regarding cultural property during wartime. Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-1830013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1830013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1830013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1830013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1830013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}