UNESCO adds Lebanese, West Bank sites to endangered list

The United Nations cultural agency on Friday updated its list of World Heritage in Danger, with locations including a Lebanese castle that Israeli forces recently captured as well as an archaeological site in the occupied West Bank, amid Israeli objections.

The decision was made during a UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) meeting in South Korea's Busan.

Members agreed that five castles in Lebanon's Mount Amel, including Beaufort Castle, and the West Bank's Sebastia would both go on the agency's World Heritage List and List of World Heritage in Danger.

The decision came after reviewing the nominations on an emergency basis, citing ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had urged the committee to reject the designation efforts, calling the nominations a "weaponization of cultural heritage."

Beaufort Castle is a Crusader fortress also known as Qalaat al-Shakif. Israeli forces captured the fortress in May amid their military operations in southern Lebanon as part of the fight against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants.

The mountainous area where Beaufort and the other five Jabal Amel listed castles are located 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 the French AFP news agency that only two of the castles were "within the Lebanese government's reach" and accused Israel of having already destroyed Shamaa Castle and of threatening to demolish Beaufort.

Salame described the UNESCO listing as a "remarkable achievement in the effort to protect these important Lebanese historical landmarks."