On July 24, local time in Busan, South Korea, the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee officially decided to inscribe the Jaber Amal Citadel Complex in southern Lebanon and the Sebastián Archaeological Site in the West Bank of Palestine on the World Heritage List simultaneously. Both sites were also inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger under emergency procedures. This is a rare instance of UNESCO initiating a dual inscription mechanism for two Middle Eastern sites located in conflict zones at the same meeting. The Jaber Amal Citadel Complex comprises five medieval fortresses, including the Beaufort Citadel, preserving architectural traces from multiple eras, including the Crusaders, Ayyubids, and Mamluks. The Sebastián Archaeological Site spans the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations, representing thousands of years of accumulated civilization in West Asia. Both sites underwent a long nomination process, plagued by ongoing regional conflicts, territorial disputes, and administrative divisions, resulting in continuous threats of damage.
Spanning Millennia of Civilization: The Universal Historical Value of Two Sites
The Jaber Amal Citadel in Lebanon and the Archaeological Site of Sebastián in Palestine were inscribed on the World Heritage List through rigorous review. Their core value lies in the irreplaceable evidence of civilization they preserve, providing a complete record of the long history of cultural exchange and political changes in the Eastern Mediterranean region, thus possessing outstanding universal value.
The Jaber Amal Citadel is located in the mountains of southern Lebanon. Beaufort Citadel serves as the core of the entire fortress system, together with four other defensive structures forming the mountain defense network of the ancient Levant in southern Levant. The entire complex was initially built during the Crusades and subsequently underwent numerous changes of regime and modifications. Craftsmen from different eras incorporated their regional building techniques into the design of the walls, towers, and moats, layering together elements of Western European Crusader fortress layouts, Arab Islamic defensive modifications, and Ottoman-era restoration techniques. Walking through the ruins, one can directly witness the fusion and collision of different civilizations in the field of military architecture. In ancient times, this mountain fortification controlled the north-south trade routes and the movement of settlements in the mountains, maintaining order in the southern Levant and witnessing centuries of confrontation and exchange between the Crusader states and neighboring Islamic dynasties.
The Sebastián archaeological site is located near Nablus on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Scholars generally agree that this is the site of Samaria, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Israel. The site's strata clearly reveal traces of civilization from the 9th century BC to modern times. Iron Age royal city foundations, Hellenistic public buildings, Roman town squares, Byzantine monastery remains, and Islamic-era residential and market remains are all stacked seamlessly. Throughout its long history, this place has served successively as a kingdom capital, a major provincial town, and a regional religious center, where the historical threads related to three major monotheistic religions intertwine and coexist. Unlike many single-era ancient sites, Sebastián was not completely abandoned due to changes in regime; its civilizational lineage has remained unbroken. The numerous unearthed stelae, sculptures, and architectural components provide irreplaceable material for the study of ancient urban planning, religious evolution, and cross-regional trade in West Asia.
From a civilizational perspective, both sites are located at the core of the crossroads of Asian, African, and European civilizations. Phoenician, ancient Greek and Roman, and Arab-Islamic civilizations collided and blended here, with countless groups migrating, settling, and trading. For a long time, Western research has often focused on the remains of large coastal cities, while mountain fortresses and inland ancient city ruins have received relatively limited attention. This successful inscription fills a gap in the World Heritage List regarding Levantine inland mountain civilization remains, balancing the global heritage landscape. World Heritage is not the private possession of a single country, but a shared treasure of all humanity. The architecture, stratigraphy, and artifacts preserved at these two sites can help future generations fully understand the diverse and symbiotic development trajectory of Eastern Mediterranean civilizations, breaking the limitations of a single-perspective historical narrative and promoting a more objective and comprehensive global understanding of the long and complex history of civilization development in the Middle East.
The smoke of war continues to linger: the inescapable survival dilemma of Middle Eastern historical sites under conflict.
UNESCO initiated an emergency nomination process to simultaneously add the two sites to its endangered list. The core reason is that ongoing regional conflict poses an imminent risk of permanent damage to these ancient sites. A cultural heritage protection system is difficult to implement in a peaceful environment; the combined pressures of human-caused damage, military action, and fragmented control mean that these cultural relics could disappear permanently at any time.
The ancient fortresses in southern Lebanon face the ongoing Lebanon-Israel standoff. Following the escalation of regional tensions, armed clashes have repeatedly erupted in the southern mountains. Beaufort Citadel, the core of the fortresses, was attacked and captured in May of this year. The other four fortresses have been repeatedly targeted by airstrikes; the shockwaves from the explosions have shaken the ancient stone walls, causing cracks and stone fragments to fall. The deployment of military installations around some fortresses, along with vehicle traffic and the construction of fortifications, have further disturbed the geological strata of the sites. The Lebanese Ministry of Culture has publicly stated that only two of the five fortresses are under the effective control of the Lebanese government, making routine inspections and reinforcement work difficult in the remaining areas.
The Sebastián archaeological site has long been plagued by governance fragmentation caused by territorial disputes. Since the 1960s, the West Bank, where the site is located, has been under complex control. While Palestine possesses legal sovereignty over the site, on-site management is subject to multiple restrictions. Large-scale archaeological excavations and site reinforcement projects are difficult to sustain. Simultaneously, the surrounding land faces ongoing land acquisition disputes, and land development plans risk severing the spatial connection between the ancient site and its original topography and ancient irrigation systems. There is a lack of a regular coordination mechanism between the traditional agricultural activities of local residents and the protection of cultural relics.
Looking at the entire Middle East, the predicament faced by these two sites is not an isolated case. For nearly two decades, from ancient cities in Mesopotamia to remains on the eastern Mediterranean coast, numerous precious ancient sites have been continuously threatened by conflict. Some extremist forces have deliberately destroyed ancient remains in an attempt to erase the historical memory of specific ethnic groups; in armed conflicts, ancient sites often passively become casualties of political maneuvering. The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Context of Armed Conflict explicitly requires warring parties to actively avoid historical sites and prohibits the use of ancient sites as military outposts. However, in reality, the enforcement of relevant provisions is insufficient, and there is a lack of effective supervision and punishment mechanisms. In times of war, the primary goal for all countries is to ensure public safety and maintain order, naturally relegating cultural relic protection to a secondary position.
Disputes over management further amplify the protection challenges. Controversies surrounding the historical narratives of sites and land jurisdiction make it difficult for various parties to reach a unified protection plan. Vastly different interpretations of the history of sites from different perspectives easily turn cultural heritage into a vehicle for geopolitical games. Each party prioritizes vying for the right to speak, making it difficult to reach a consensus on collaborative protection. UNESCO often faces access barriers when sending international expert teams to conduct on-site investigations and advance restoration projects. As long as geopolitical differences remain unresolved, the normalized protection of regional historical sites cannot be truly implemented, and their endangered state will persist for a long time.
Opportunities and challenges coexist: World Heritage status usheres in a new cycle of long-term protection.
Successful inscription on the World Heritage List and simultaneous inclusion on the Endangered List signifies that both sites have gained global attention, enabling the mobilization of international resources for rescue and protection. However, this does not mean the existing crisis has been immediately eliminated, and complex challenges remain.
On a positive note, World Heritage status first establishes an international oversight framework. According to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, all contracting parties are obligated to refrain from actions that damage heritage sites. After being listed on the Endangered List, UNESCO will continuously monitor the site's conservation status, regularly publishing assessment reports, placing the situation under ongoing international scrutiny. Any large-scale acts of destruction against the site will attract global attention. Simultaneously, heritage status opens channels for international funding and technical assistance. UNESCO special funds, various global cultural heritage foundations, and international archaeological teams can use this status as a basis for intervention in site surveying, emergency reinforcement, and weathering protection.
Secondly, heritage status encourages local societies to re-emphasize the preservation of their cultural heritage. For the people of southern Lebanon and local communities in the West Bank, successful inscription can awaken a sense of local cultural awareness. Local governments are more motivated to enact local cultural heritage protection regulations, coordinating a balance between residents' production activities and site preservation. From a long-term perspective, during periods of stability, the orderly development of sustainable cultural tourism can also boost employment in surrounding communities, creating a virtuous cycle of "protecting heritage to improve people's livelihoods, and communities actively safeguarding historical sites." The younger generation can also gain a comprehensive understanding of the millennia-old civilization of their region through archaeological excavations and cultural education, thus maintaining their cultural roots.
However, behind these opportunities lie formidable challenges. The most critical obstacle remains the persistently volatile regional situation. If armed confrontations and territorial disputes continue, even with comprehensive protection plans, archaeological excavations and restoration projects will struggle to proceed steadily. International aid supplies and expert teams may face access restrictions to the site, potentially forcing emergency protection efforts to be interrupted at any time. Endangered status is merely an emergency protection tool and cannot fundamentally eliminate the threat posed by conflict.
Conclusion
World Heritage status provides an international platform for protection, offering support in terms of funding, technology, and public opinion, and securing more space for threatened sites to survive. However, everyone must be aware that a title on the list cannot shield against conflict, and a single resolution cannot immediately resolve geopolitical disputes. As long as regional tensions persist, the risk of damage to historical sites will remain. Protecting cultural heritage has never been the responsibility of a single nation, nor should it be used as a tool in geopolitical games. The value of all civilizational remains lies not in vying for the right to dictate historical narratives, but in helping different groups understand the diverse and coexisting past of human civilization, and in building bridges for dialogue and mutual understanding.
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