"Lebanon's cultural heritage must not become yet another casualty of this devastating conflict."
As Lebanon strives to preserve its cultural legacy, the recent hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have continued to endanger the country's protected heritage infrastructure, and in many cases, to destroy or erase it entirely. The extensive damage has affected ancient ruins, internationally recognized World Heritage sites, living urban fabrics, religious monuments, and entire historic villages. The losses are not limited to the physical destruction of buildings and monuments. They also include the obliteration of collective memory and the erosion of cultural identity of the affected communities.
International law explicitly prohibits "the destruction of cultural property as a means of intimidating people under occupation or as a reprisal."
In November 2024, UNESCO placed 34 cultural properties in Lebanon under temporary enhanced protection within the framework of the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The organization declared that any attack on these properties would constitute a flagrant violation of the 1954 Hague Convention and could lead to criminal prosecution. This designation grants the highest possible level of protection against military targeting and interference.
This step followed a series of strikes that had already directly impacted several of the listed sites and threatened others with severe damage.
In its October 2024 report, the organization Heritage for Peace documented the destruction of 27 heritage sites, in addition to the complete erasure of several historic villages in southern Lebanon.
Baalbek: The Historic City
Baalbek is among the oldest cities in Lebanon, renowned for its exceptionally rich cultural heritage.
Baalbek, located in the governorate of Baalbek-Hermel, is among the oldest cities in Lebanon, renowned for its exceptionally rich cultural heritage. The city lies east of the Litani River, north of the Beqaa Valley, and near the western edge of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. It serves as the capital of the Baalbek District, the largest administrative district in Lebanon, covering an area of 2,319 square kilometers, roughly a quarter of the country's total land area.
The city is home to the Baalbek temple complex, historically known as the ancient Phoenician city. This vast archaeological ensemble includes the Baalbek Citadel and three principal temples, those of Jupiter, Bacchus, and Venus, in addition to the Temple of Mercury. The Baalbek Citadel and its temples were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984, recognized as some of the most remarkable examples of Roman imperial architecture in the ancient world.
The Manshiyya Building: From Landmark to Ruins
Social media users reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted the Manshiyya Building, located within the immediate vicinity of the Baalbek Citadel.
The Manshiyya Building is one of Baalbek's historic structures, dating back to the Ottoman era, and stands directly opposite the historic Palmyra Hotel. According to local accounts, it was among the first cafés to be established in the city, with its construction believed to date to the French Mandate period. Eventually, it was repurposed as "Beit Asilah," a cultural and economic initiative promoting locally made crafts and traditional Baalbek handicrafts; part of a broader effort to revive and sustain the region's heritage economy.
Attack Analysis and Timeline
On the evening of November 6, 2024, Israeli aircraft conducted a direct strike on the site, resulting in its total destruction. By examining social media posts and available visual evidence, we were able to reconstruct and analyze the timeline of the attack. The strike occurred shortly after the Israeli army had issued an evacuation order on October 30, 2024, instructing residents of Baalbek and nearby villages to leave the area; an order that followed several previous bombardments of the city.
Evacuation Warning Issued
Image posted by Avichay Adraee on Platform X for the Israeli army's evacuation warning for Baalbek city, Ain Bourdaine, and Duris.
Escalation of Attacks
Screenshot of Governor Bashir Khodr's post mentioning 20 raids on Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, causing 30 fatalities and 35 injuries.
Report of Strike Near Sayyida Khawla Shrine
Screenshot of a post by the Be a Citizen account reporting an airstrike near the Sayyida Khawla Shrine in Baalbek.
Official Governor's Report
Governor Bashir Khodr's account posted a statement about a raid landing inside the Citadel's parking lot, damaging the historic Manshiyya quarter.
Dusk Time Analysis
The attached images show the sky at night twilight. The SunCalc tool determined civil dusk to be at 17:03:52 local time.
Conclusion: The probable time of the Manshiyya Building attack is between civil dusk (17:03:52) and the Governor's official report (17:36:14) local time in Lebanon.
Geolocation Analysis
A review of the visual content published following the incident, including videos from Al-Afdal News, TRT Arabic's YouTube channel, LBC News, SBI, and two live broadcasts from the Facebook page Minkom w Lakom (archived copies obtained before deletion), helped establish the spatial context of the attack. Claims indicated that the strike had targeted the Manshiyya Building, also known as the Baalbek Handicrafts House, located within the parking area of the Baalbek Citadel, directly opposite the historic Palmyra Hotel.
The surrounding landmarks visible in the footage, including the Baalbek Citadel, the Roman columns belonging to the adjacent temples, the Directorate General of Antiquities building, and the Palmyra Hotel's gate and façade, all matched precisely across multiple videos and archival references.
Visual cross-matching was conducted using footage from the Minkom w Lakom livestreams, video from Al-Afdal News, TRT Arabic, archival photographs of Baalbek, imagery from Thestraitstimes, and Google Maps archival views (Users 1 and 2).
Damage Analysis and Geocoordinates Documentation
To improve spatial accuracy and identify distinctive features in the satellite imagery, panoramic composites were generated from footage by TRT Arabic and Al-Afdal News, capturing both directions of the damaged site. These panoramas clearly illustrate the extent of destruction sustained by the building.
Through visual geolocation, comparing the spatial arrangement of surrounding structures in the videos with satellite imagery and identifiable architectural markers, the precise coordinates of the Manshiyya Building were established at: 34.003731, 36.204063 — directly in front of the Palmyra Hotel, approximately 240 meters from the Temple of Heliopolis. The building is situated on the edge of the Baalbek Citadel parking area, about 104 meters from the nearest surviving Roman columns belonging to the Citadel complex.
Satellite Imagery Analysis
Analysis of recent satellite imagery (Sentinel-2, dated November 5 and 10, 2024) shows a visible change in the area corresponding to the strike location, confirming significant structural damage to the targeted building.
As for the Citadel itself, no verified sources have reported direct damage to the historic World Heritage Site. In his official statement, Governor Khodr noted that the Citadel would undergo a formal assessment by archaeological specialists under UNESCO supervision to determine whether the site sustained any impact.
Nawa Media spoke with Dr Samir Rabiz, the architect in charge of restoring al-Manshiyya, to ask about the reconstruction efforts and the extent of the damage the strikes inflicted on the Baalbek citadel and surrounding archaeological sites. Rabiz, a conservation architect specialising in heritage restoration, currently oversees the rebuilding of the Manshiyya complex. "I honestly don't know why it was bombed," Rabiz said. "There's no reason whatsoever. Al-Manshiyya is a civilian building. I have no idea why it was targeted. That single missile was extremely powerful; it pierced the structure and drove about two and a half metres into the ground, bending the steel beams."
Rabih Hamad, another architect working on the restoration, explained: "Truly, nothing of al-Manshiyya was left standing; the whole structure collapsed. The blast pressure was so strong that some stones were hurled all the way to the citadel. We even found a few lodged in its perimeter fence.
Hamad told us that the team began work on restoring al-Manshiyya around late December. They were fortunate to recover, beneath the debris, several of the carved and decorated stones that had formed part of the main façade. However, when they began the reconstruction, not all the stones were found at the strike site: part of them had been preserved by the Directorate of Antiquities until restoration could begin, while some stones from the rear façade had disappeared, since the strike came from the back or hit the terrace, which faces three arches.
"The blast left a crater nearly three metres deep and six to seven metres wide," Hamad continued. "The missile landed near the terrace with the three large arches. That's why the façade stones survived: the strike wasn't direct. But the shockwave dislodged some of the front stones, and several from the back simply vanished."
Rabiz noted that al-Manshiyya will be rebuilt as it was. The restoration, he said, is expected to take between one and two years.
Excavation work and the classification of the surviving stones have already been completed; the team is now awaiting the appointment of a contractor to launch the rebuilding phase.
The Collapsed Citadel Wall – The Gouraud Barracks Strike
On October 28, 2024, reports circulated across social media and several media outlets of an airstrike on the Gouraud Barracks, located near the Baalbek Citadel. The strike reportedly damaged a section of the Roman-era fortification wall belonging to the Citadel, specifically the portion known as the Iaat Gate. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the bombing resulted in three fatalities and seventeen injuries. The incident occurred two days before the Israeli army issued an order to evacuate the entire city of Baalbek.
A visual match of the damaged Roman wall reveals solar panels scattered among the rubble. The comparison draws on photographs by Nidal Solh, an image from the Al-Shifaa Association, a video from Al-Nashra News, and archival photographs of Baalbek.
Through cross-referencing these materials, we were able to geolocate the strike site to an area behind the Gouraud Barracks neighborhood, facing Qubbat al-Sa'ideen, at the ruins of Baalbek's northern city gate; an extension of the Roman fortification known as the Iaat Gate.
The location lies approximately 371 meters from the UNESCO World Heritage Site, at the coordinates [34.010785, 36.203499].
To add a further layer of verification, the mountain ridgelines and surrounding structures visible in a photograph captured by Nidal Solh were compared with topographic imagery from Google Earth. The alignment of the mountain profiles and nearby buildings confirmed a precise visual match. Notably the damage appeared to have affected two buildings in addition to the ancient Roman wall.
A comparison of recent satellite imagery from October 26 and November 5, 2024, revealed distinct visual changes consistent with a recent impact.
The ancient Roman wall sustained partial destruction as a result of the airstrike, with approximately 30 meters reportedly collapsing, which inflicted severe structural losses on this historically significant monument.
It is important to note that the Roman fortification extends beyond the main boundaries of the Baalbek Citadel, situated directly adjacent to the Gouraud Barracks. Sources indicate that this wall is an extension of the northern gate complex of the Citadel and is listed among Lebanon's officially protected monuments under the 1936 Heritage Register. It had remained standing along the northern and western edges of the barracks site, suggesting that the barracks were constructed adjacent to, or even incorporating, portions of the original Roman fortifications.
In conclusion, the evidence indicates that on the evening of October 28, 2024, multiple structures located behind the Gouraud Barracks, near Qubbat al-Sa'ideen and in proximity to the Baalbek Citadel (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), were struck by an air raid that caused severe damage to the Roman fortification wall of the Citadel. A subsequent strike on November 6, 2024, targeted the Manshiyya Building, also located near the Citadel, resulting in its complete destruction and inflicting collateral damage on the nearby Palmyra Hotel.