Getty ImagesFor two millennia, the Roman temple at Baalbek in eastern Lebanon has been the best example of Roman architecture in the world.
On Wednesday, a parking lot just meters away from the UNESCO World Heritage Site came under Israeli airstrikes.
The attack also destroyed a centuries-old Ottoman building, highlighting what some archaeologists say is the risk of the current war between Israel and Hezbollah causing irreparable damage to historic sites across Lebanon.
“Baalbek is the main Roman site in Lebanon. If someone bombs it, you can’t replace it,” said Graham Philip, professor of archeology at Durham University.
“It would be a huge loss. It would be a crime.”
Since late September, Israel has launched thousands of air strikes in Lebanon, escalating its campaign against Hezbollah.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) mainly targets southern Lebanon, the suburbs of the capital Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.
But over the past two weeks, the movement has entered new territory, or rather, very old territory.
The IDF told the BBC it was only targeting military locations. But these targets were very close to the temple of Baalbek and the Roman ruins of Tire, a major port of the Phoenician Empire some 2,500 years ago.
According to legend, Tire was the place where purple pigment was first produced – the pigment was pressed from snail shells and used to embroider royal robes.
October 23, Israel Defense Forces issues evacuation order For communities close to the city’s Roman ruins, including necropolises and the remains of the Hippodrome.
After a few hours, it began attacking its target. More bombings were reported at these locations last week.
Video of the attack showed huge plumes of black smoke rising from the seaside just a few hundred meters away from the ruins.
UNESCOThere is no evidence that the Roman ruins at Tire and Baalbek were damaged by Israeli attacks. But Lebanese archaeologists are alarmed by how close the fighting came to the millennium-old site, which UNESCO considers to be of outstanding value to humanity.
“For Baalbek, the situation is even worse than for Tire because the temple is within the target area. [the IDF] “We have not made any exemptions for the temple,” said local archaeologist Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly.
She said there were no Hezbollah facilities at the Baalbek site: “No one knows what the pretext or message was behind the attack.”
The Israel Defense Forces disputed this. In a statement, it told the BBC it targeted military sites in accordance with strict protocols, adding that it was “aware of the existence of sensitive sites, which have been taken into account and formed an important part of the attack plan” .
“Every attack that poses a risk to sensitive structures is carefully weighed and goes through a rigorous approval process as required.”
According to reports, some ordinary Lebanese trying to escape Israeli bombings fled to the Baalbek ruins because they judged that the ancient ruins would not be targeted by Israel and therefore would provide protection.
Ms Farchah Bajali said “those who did not have cars to escape” were moving closer to the ruins because they believed the UNESCO site was considered more valuable than their lives.
This prompted local governments to issue warnings urging people not to visit the ruins.
“They see the site as a shelter. But the site is not a shelter,” Ms. Farchakh Bajjaly said.
Israeli archaeologist Erez Ben Yosef said the war had left Israel in a “difficulty”.
He said that the war’s destruction of important archaeological sites will be “a huge loss to Lebanon and the entire world’s cultural heritage.”
“However, I know personally that Israel is doing everything it can to prevent such damage.
“Many of my fellow archaeologists, both colleagues and students, have served in the military and fought in wars…and they actively work to prevent this damage in accordance with our military’s general guidelines.”
ReutersGraham Phillip, professor of archeology at Durham University, said he did not believe Israel would deliberately attack Baalbek or other sites.
“It’s hard to see what they would have gained in a military sense by bombing the Roman temples.”
But he warned that some bombs or missiles could miss their target and hit the rubble, even accidentally: “If you drop enough munitions, not all of them will land within 25 meters of the target.”
Mr. Philip has been closely monitoring the fallout from Israeli attacks on sites in Gaza, where Israel is fighting Hamas. British university team documents archaeological damage Across territories.
He said it was too early to assess how much damage the current war in Lebanon and Gaza had caused. But a UNESCO survey released in September found that 69 cultural heritage sites in Gaza had been damaged by the war triggered by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
The oldest mosque in Gaza, the Great Mosque of Omari, is one of them. It was built on the site of an ancient Philistine temple, which was later converted into a church and then a mosque. Most of it was reportedly destroyed by an Israeli attack in December 2023.
Mr Philippe said these ancient sites were not only important pillars of classical history but “almost like the soul of a nation”.
“Imagine how the British would feel if the Tower of London or Stonehenge were destroyed.
“It’s part of their identity.”
