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Lebanon Decries Israeli Attacks Damaging Heritage Sites

Smoke rises from Beaufort Castle following strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Smoke rises from Beaufort Castle following strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
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Lebanon Decries Israeli Attacks Damaging Heritage Sites

Smoke rises from Beaufort Castle following strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Smoke rises from Beaufort Castle following strikes, as seen from Marjayoun, southern Lebanon, May 27, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Lebanese authorities on Thursday decried Israeli attacks near UNESCO-protected historic sites and landmarks in the country's south.

Culture Minister Ghassan Salame "made numerous contacts with his counterparts worldwide and relevant international organizations to draw their attention to the huge damage to archaeological sites and heritage districts" in south Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency said.

He highlighted the ancient city of Tyre and Beaufort castle in the Nabatieh district, emphasizing that "a large number of these sites enjoy enhanced protection from UNESCO, making it necessary to protect them from any Israeli air or artillery attack".

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on X that "nothing can justify the ongoing attacks on the Tyre and Nabatieh regions and the destruction of their historical landmarks".

Israel has issued repeated evacuation warnings to swathes of the southern coastal city of Tyre in recent days and carried out heavy strikes.

Early Thursday, Israel's military warned it would target a building in Tyre which it showed on an accompanying map as located very close to the city's archaeological area.

Around two hours after the warning, AFP footage showed a fireball followed by smoke as a strike hit the district.

The south Lebanon municipality of Arnoun, where the historic Beaufort castle is located, said in a statement on Facebook that it "condemns in the strongest terms the attack that targeted" the site, blaming Israeli bombardment and urging authorities to protect it "from further damage".

On Wednesday, an AFP correspondent saw smoke rising near Beaufort castle after what appeared to be artillery fire.

Israeli forces used the castle, also known as Qalaat al-Chakif, as a base during their previous two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon which ended in 2000.

In November 2024, during a previous war between Israel and Hezbollah, UNESCO granted 34 heritage sites in Lebanon including Tyre and Beaufort Castle "provisional enhanced protection".

"Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute 'serious violations' of the 1954 Hague Convention and... potential grounds for prosecution," it said at the time.

This April, UNESCO added another 39 Lebanese sites to the list.

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Arab World

Tunisian Journalists Fear Jail Again as Freedoms Erode

Tunisian journalists participate in a rally called by the Tunisian journalists' union to demand the release of journalist Mohamed Yousfi, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, in Tunis, Tunisia. September 8, 2026. REUTERS/ Jihed Abidellaoui
Tunisian journalists participate in a rally called by the Tunisian journalists' union to demand the release of journalist Mohamed Yousfi, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, in Tunis, Tunisia. September 8, 2026. REUTERS/ Jihed Abidellaoui
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Tunisian Journalists Fear Jail Again as Freedoms Erode

Tunisian journalists participate in a rally called by the Tunisian journalists' union to demand the release of journalist Mohamed Yousfi, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, in Tunis, Tunisia. September 8, 2026. REUTERS/ Jihed Abidellaoui
Tunisian journalists participate in a rally called by the Tunisian journalists' union to demand the release of journalist Mohamed Yousfi, a vocal critic of President Kais Saied, in Tunis, Tunisia. September 8, 2026. REUTERS/ Jihed Abidellaoui

In the garden of the independent outlet ‘Nawaat,’ about half a dozen journalists sit smoking, trading jokes and discussing investigations they plan to publish on subjects ranging from the quality of drinking water to conditions of prisons.

They know that any of the stories ⁠could lead to prosecution.

A Hard Test

Journalists in Tunisia who enjoyed a burst of press freedom after the 2011 Arab Spring are once again looking over their shoulders in the knowledge their work may land them in prison.

The 2011 overthrow of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali unshackled Tunisia's media, but a decade later President Kais Saied's seizure of sweeping powers began eroding those gains.

Some 20 journalists face criminal charges over their reporting or social media posts, with four already imprisoned, according to Zied Dabbar, head of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, who called the situation unprecedented.

In return, Saied has said he is not a dictator and that journalists are free to criticize authorities and frequently do.

Authorities say prosecutions are impartial judicial matters and that no one is above the law.
The Tunisian prime minister's press office did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Now, independent media face a full-on crackdown, rights groups say, and Tunisia has tumbled more than 50 places in the past five years to 137th in Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index.

Shifting Minefield

“We are living in a grey area, as if we were in a shifting minefield, and we pay the price every day,” said Aymen Rezgui, editor-in-chief of Nawaat, reflecting on how at least limits were clear pre-2011 versus current uncertainty.

Rezgui said Nawaat regularly receives threats — anonymously or from government supporters on social media branding him a traitor — over reporting on issues ranging from prisons to power cuts and water shortages.

The outlet has also faced judicial restrictions, including a government order suspending activities for a month last year.

Journalists in Jail, Others Choose Exile

Many other journalists report similar pressures.

Last month, Mohamed Yousfi, editor-in-chief of independent news website Al-Qatiba, was arrested on his way to a private radio station for a live program. A judge has charged him with illicit enrichment, which he says is a fabrication.

Other jailed journalists and media figures include prominent broadcasters Mourad Zeghidi and Borhen Bsaies, who were first convicted of spreading false news and insulting the president, and later of tax evasion. ⁠They deny the charges and say they have been framed.

For some, leaving Tunisia has become the only option to avoid a similar fate, despite the personal cost.

In December 2025, Khaoula Boukrim, founder of independent website Tumedia and a prominent critic of the president, left for France fearing imminent arrest.

Months later, she was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison over writings critical of the judiciary and a system of governance she described as authoritarian.

Journalist Haythem Mekki has also left Tunisia after receiving a prison sentence following public comments he made denouncing conditions in a hospital morgue.

Beyond prosecutions, journalists are frequently prevented by police from working in public and are sometimes detained for hours, the journalists' syndicate says.

Most ministries no longer have press offices, while several international correspondents have been denied accreditation, further restricting independent coverage.

Political and critical programs have disappeared from many private radio stations. State media has ⁠increasingly marginalized dissenting voices, the syndicate says, though the TAP state news agency remains a rare exception, continuing to cover protests, opposition activities and civil society initiatives.

Arab World

Israeli Threat to Expand Lebanon’s Occupation, Displace More Than a Million Lebanese

File photo of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank (Israeli Army)
File photo of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank (Israeli Army)
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Israeli Threat to Expand Lebanon’s Occupation, Displace More Than a Million Lebanese

File photo of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank (Israeli Army)
File photo of Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank (Israeli Army)

Defense Minister Israel Katz has ⁠warned Hezbollah against attacking Israel, saying the Israeli army was capable of occupying more Lebanese territories and displacing more than a million Shiites.

"Hezbollah will suffer a severe blow and lose additional territories in southern Lebanon within the Nabatieh and Litani regions, which will become part of Israel's permanent security zone. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is prepared to carry out the maneuver," Katz said on Wednesday.

Speaking from the self-declared security zone Israeli forces are ⁠occupying in southern Lebanon, Katz said that a million Shiites would be displaced and that Hezbollah's stronghold in Beirut would not be spared.

Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion in southern Lebanon this year in parallel with the war in Iran, after Hezbollah fired into Israel in revenge ​for Israeli-American attacks against Tehran.

Hundreds of ​thousands of people from Lebanon's Shiite community were uprooted by the fighting.

Arab World

UN Peacekeeping Chief Says Talks on Future of Lebanon Mission Must Begin Soon

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Beirut, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Beirut, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP)
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UN Peacekeeping Chief Says Talks on Future of Lebanon Mission Must Begin Soon

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Beirut, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP)
United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beirut, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, in Beirut, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (AP)

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to begin negotiations on the future of peacekeepers deployed in Lebanon, as Beirut campaigns for an extension to the mandate set to expire at the end of this year.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978, but the Security Council last year ordered the mission to begin withdrawing at the end of 2026.

Since a new war erupted in March between Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, ‌the Lebanese government has ‌campaigned for an extension to UNIFIL's mandate, citing its ‌role ⁠in monitoring hostilities ⁠and facilitating aid deliveries to villages in Israeli-occupied zones.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier this year presented proposals for a continued uniformed UN presence in Lebanon, but no action has been taken yet, Lacroix told Reuters in Beirut.

"These proposals are on the table of the Security Council. There has been no movement in the Security Council until now, but I believe that the negotiations will begin ... shortly, in earnest," he said.

"I think ⁠it would be better to have a decision soon ‌rather than later, right? Because that would clarify ‌also the horizon for us, certainly from the more limited point of view of our ‌own planning," he said.

FORCES OPERATE HOTLINE TO EASE TENSIONS

Diplomats say the US ‌is not supportive of an extended mandate for UNIFIL, but Lacroix said it was important to focus on Lebanon’s request and that negotiations at the Security Council could yield a constructive outcome.

Some 7,500 UNIFIL peacekeepers are still deployed at about 50 positions in southern Lebanon, which ‌would be expected to be handed over to Lebanese army troops if no new UN force is agreed.

But since most ⁠of those ⁠posts lie in territory now occupied by the Israeli military, it remains unclear how Lebanese soldiers could deploy to take over the positions.

Lacroix said that clarity on whether a new UN force would deploy to southern Lebanon would help UNIFIL make sure it does not "leave those positions prematurely before we know what could come next".

In addition to facilitating aid deliveries and monitoring hostilities, the force operates a hotline to ease any tensions between the Lebanese and Israeli militaries.

Lacroix said the deconfliction role was particularly crucial given the presence of Israeli troops in a self-declared security zone deep in Lebanese territory.

He said that Israeli and Lebanese troops in the same geographic area presented "the risk of escalation, the risk of incidents getting out of control" and that "there is a need for a third party to de-escalate".