Lebanon's Baalbek ruins put under state security amid Israeli strikes

Heavy Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon’s Bekaa valley have prompted serious concerns over the safety of the county’s world famous archaeological site at Baalbek.

The vast Roman citadel and temples sit adjacent to the modern-day city of Baalbek in the eastern Bekaa valley, which Israel has bombed ever since it dramatically escalated its strikes on Lebanon in late September.

The air strikes have killed over 2,000 people in Lebanon, with Israel claiming that it seeks to remove Hezbollah as a threat.

The Lebanese government estimates that some one million people have been internally displaced by Israel's attacks, triggering a humanitarian crisis and widespread instability.

Baalbek city is largely Shia Muslim population and has a Hezbollah presence.

It was hit by a strike last week which prompted fears for the safety of the ancient ruins after footage shared on social media showed smoke billowing from behind the grand columns of the Jupiter Temple.

The strikes are among more than 1,000 that Israel has launched against Lebanon since 23 September and the start of its ground invasion. The attacks have caused widespread devastation to villages in the south of Lebanon and Beirut's Dahiyeh suburb.

Bashir Khader, the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel region, said on Friday that the crisis had prompted local authorities to take extra precautions to guard the Baalbek site over concerns of looting or inappropriate use of the site.

Speaking to The New Arab’s Arabic language sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Khader said that Lebanese security services are supervising the UNESCO World Heritage site.

"We confirm that the castle is under the supervision and guard of the official security authorities…so that no one thinks that it is possible to enter or hide inside," he said.

Last Sunday a fire broke out after an Israeli strike some 700 metres away from the ancient citadel, which houses two of the largest Roman temples in the world.

Historians consider the Bacchus temple to be one of the best preserved and grandest Roman temple ruins.

Khader said that the archeological site did not suffer "any direct damage" but there are fears over the impact of the pollution from fires caused by the Israeli strikes on the stones, as well as the strikes' heavy impact on the ground having a ripple effect on the temple's structure.

Lebanon’s caretaker Minister of Culture Mohammed Mortarda has asked for help from UNESCO in the wake of the conflict and requested $100,000 in funding to protect several special historical sites across the country.

Mortada recently told The New Arab that he was concerned that Israel could launch an attack which could harm the temples.

"This is an enemy which lacks any sort of ethics and morals and will do anything to harm Lebanon and to express its pure hatred towards it. I expect the worst from Israel" he said.

The historic Umayyad ruins at the town of Anjar in the Bekaa valley and the Tyre Hippodrome in south Lebanon have both been in the vicinity of recent Israeli air strikes.

The Ministry of Culture said in a statement that the "deliberate attacks on places adjacent to a historic site of this magnitude constitute a flagrant violation of international laws and conventions".

Khader also said he feared that the Israeli army could target archaeological sites. "We have seen many times [Israeli] operations aimed at erasing the identity and history of our countries," the governor said.

Baalbek's temples managed to pass through Lebanon's 15-year civil war unscathed and came under preservation work during the country's reconstruction from the 1990s onwards.