What experiences of devastated Middle East cities signify for Gaza’s postwar recovery

Special What experiences of devastated Middle East cities signify for Gaza’s postwar recovery
Palestinians check the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, on November 1, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 23 November 2023
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What experiences of devastated Middle East cities signify for Gaza’s postwar recovery

What experiences of devastated Middle East cities signify for Gaza’s postwar recovery
  • As hostage deal takes effect, questions arise as to whether recovery is possible given the scale of destruction
  • From Mosul to Aleppo, Arab cities devastated by conflict testify that reconstruction may not be clearcut

ATHENS/IRBIL: As the hostage deal agreed by Israel and Hamas ushers in the potential for a brief pause in the fighting in Gaza, thoughts are already turning in some quarters to the possibility of the Palestinian enclave’s recovery from unprecedented physical devastation.

If the experience of other Arab cities battered by conflict in recent years is anything to go by, the recovery of Gaza will not be a straightforward task, complicated by issues such as financing, leadership and guarantees of a lasting peace.

The Arab world is no stranger to the labor of rebuilding. More than 8,000 buildings were destroyed in Mosul’s Old City during the battle to retake the northern Iraqi city from Daesh in 2017. Syria’s Aleppo likewise saw more than 35,000 of its structures ruined during the continuing civil war, which began in 2011.

These cities share one characteristic in common — their destruction. But the extent of their reconstruction since has hinged on a complex web of factors, including geographical location, size (both in area and population), the current security situation, and the actions, or lack thereof, taken by local and national governments.




A picture taken on March 9, 2017 in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which was recaptured by government forces in December 2016, shows people walking past heavily damaged buildings. (AFP)

For example, while much of Mosul remains in ruins, the relative lack of conflict for the past six years has enabled rebuilding initiatives such as “Revive the Spirit of Mosul,” a multimillion-dollar project led by UNESCO with assistance from the EU and UAE, which intends to revitalize the iconic Iraqi city.

Aleppo faces similar issues. The city is being reconstructed in a piecemeal fashion, with those in formerly opposition-held neighborhoods in the east and Kurdish-majority, semi-autonomous neighborhoods in the north complaining of neglect by the central government in Damascus.

Other residents complain that Iran-backed, pro-government militias have monopolized aid and the entire reconstruction process.

Further complicating reconstruction in both Aleppo and Mosul are claims that many of the UN’s damage assessments are carried out only on buildings of cultural or historical significance rather than on housing and residential infrastructure.

This has meant that while massive UNESCO projects and promises of donations to rebuild historic districts are well-meaning, they often neglect the real needs of civilians on the ground.




A fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) flashes the victory gesture as he stands guard with his comrades on a rooftop in Raqqa on October 20, 2017, after retaking the city from Daesh fighters. (AFP)

Raqqa, meanwhile, under the US-backed Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, has enjoyed relative stability and security since its liberation, which has helped its reconstruction.

With the assistance of the local administration and international humanitarian organizations, more than 400 of the city’s 528 schools have been entirely or partially rebuilt, and 90 percent of the city’s water network has been repaired, according to information provided to Arab News by Abdul Salam Hamsork, vice president of Raqqa’s Executive Council.

Gaza has not had the chance to enjoy any such stability, having been subjected to multiple, intense military campaigns in recent decades. 




A boy walks past the rubble of destroyed houses in the war-ravaged old part of Iraq’s northern city Mosul, a site heavily damaged by Daesh fighters in the 2017 battle for the city, on April 21, 2021. (AFP)

While previous reconstructions of civilian homes and infrastructure were carried out by the International Relief Agency and the UN Development Program, the conflict that began on Oct. 7 is unprecedented in its scale, Dr. Saleh Abdel Aty, a Palestinian lawyer, researcher and human rights activist, told Arab News.

“During this ongoing aggression, the occupation forces destroyed 60 percent of the housing units, completely or partially destroying approximately 250,000 housing units, in addition to the destruction that occurred to buildings, infrastructure, service facilities, factories, farms and shops,” he said.

“Reconstruction is possible, of course, but it requires an international conference to end the siege and agree on an international vision to end the occupation and prevent it from controlling the reconstruction process.”

GAZA DAMAGE IN NUMBERS

  • 41k Housing units destroyed and 222k damaged as of Nov. 15 — 45 percent of the total. (OCHA)
  • 279 Educational facilities damaged as of Nov. 15 — more than 51 percent of the total. (OCHA)
  • 9 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals left partially functioning as of Nov. 16. (Ministry of Health)
  • 70 percent People in southern Gaza with no access to clean water as of Nov. 16. (UNRWA)

For many Palestinians still living under the threat of bombardment and displacement, talk of rebuilding now is premature. After decades of siege and military onslaught, hopelessness is an overriding feeling among Gazans.

“It is way too early to talk about reconstruction when the Israeli war continues with no end in sight,” Osama Al-Sharif, a journalist and political commentator based in Amman, told Arab News.

“The true objectives of Israel’s aggression remain unclear. What is obvious is that Israel is trying to make most of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, a buffer zone. It is applying a scorched-earth policy by carrying out deliberate mass destruction of that part. Gazans may never be allowed to return to the north, which has been turned into a wasteland.”

The destruction of Gaza also opens up a worrying possibility — the return of settlements. In 2005, as part of the Israeli disengagement in the enclave, more than 20 Israeli settlements inside Gaza were dismantled and both Israeli settlers and military forces withdrew from the area.




This combination of handout satellite images released by Maxar Technology and created on November 1, 2023, shows (L) an overview of the Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, 2023 and the destruction in the same camp after it was hit by an Israeli strike. (AFP)

Although Israel has not made any statements or endorsed the return of settlers, two weeks ago several former Gaza settlers who spoke to Voice of America expressed their desire to return to their former settlements after hostilities end.

With a temporary ceasefire as part of the hostage exchange deal now on the cards, there is a glimmer of hope for a sustained end to the fighting, or at the very least a window of opportunity to deliver vital aid to Gaza’s stricken population.

But until sustained peace is guaranteed, there is little appetite to support major reconstruction in Gaza if those buildings will only be flattened again in the next round of violence.

Indeed, as long as the region lives under the shadow of armed groups and the cloud of a potentially wider regional war, it may be impossible to get funds for reconstruction.

“Either reconstruction won’t happen at all due to a lack of resources, intense security and political fragmentation, or it will become a continuation of conflict by other means involving local and outside contenders,” Amr Adly, Muhammad Alaraby and Ibrahim Awad said in a jointly written essay from 2021 for the Carnegie Middle East Center on the topic of postwar reconstruction in the region.




Israeli flags stand on the top of destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. (AP)

The lack of a guarantee that future conflicts will not ravage cities is one of the main obstacles to progress in many destroyed cities around the world.

Most Syrian political entities insist that the implementation of UN Resolution 2254 of 2015, which calls for a political settlement in Syria, is a prerequisite for any sort of reconstruction, rebuilding or return of refugees.

“For Gaza not to be destroyed, the very reason why resistance exists in the first place would have to be removed altogether — and that is the freedom of the Palestinian people,” Palestinian author and commentator Ramzy Baroud told Arab News.

“Construction must also be linked to another process: that of protecting Gaza from future Israeli wars and subsequent destruction.”

Baroud cautions that reconstruction efforts must not be politicized.

“Israel, the US and their Western allies must not be allowed to link the reconstruction of Gaza to their own political agendas against Hamas, the Islamic Jihad or any other Palestinian group,” he said, adding that “those who have lost everything are ordinary people who are victims of Israeli war crimes.”




Palestinians bury bodies in a mass grave in Khan Yunis cemetery, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023. (AFP)

Removing political agendas from any potential rebuilding may prove exceedingly difficult, particularly given that all aid and equipment must first travel through Israeli territory to reach Gaza. A long embargo on cement imports has slowed past repair and reconstruction work.

As Israel also has a track record of carrying out punitive demolitions of the homes of family members of Palestinian militants, it is unclear whether the country’s increasingly right-wing government would be willing to contribute to, or even tolerate, reconstruction efforts in Gaza.

“Theoretically, reconstruction is not an issue if the aggression stops and international aid flows in,” said Amman-based commentator Al-Sharif. “Western and Arab countries will contribute to a reconstruction plan, which may take years to accomplish.”

The costs associated with any potential reconstruction have yet to be assessed, but will surely be massive. For reference, the UN stated in 2017 that the reconstruction of Mosul’s basic infrastructure would cost $1 billion.

The UN said in October this year that even prior to the current war, Gaza was already in need of billions of dollars’ worth of aid, with the region suffering from one of the highest unemployment rates in the world and a 64 percent food insecurity rate.

Reconstruction and development work also needs donors, at a time when funds for Gaza have already been on the decline. From 2008 to 2022, aid provided to Gaza slipped from $2 billion to $500 million.




Palestinians check the rubble following Israeli strikes in the southern Gaza Strip on November 22, 2023. (AFP)

How Gaza’s reconstruction could be paid for is a source of some dispute. One idea that has been floated is the development of the Gaza Marine offshore gas field, located 36 km off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea.

Amos Hochstein, the US special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security, traveled to Israel on Monday in a move that could boost prospects for Gaza to develop its offshore gas reserves after the war.

“We shouldn’t exaggerate its potential, but it can absolutely be a revenue stream for a Palestinian government, and to ensure there is an independent energy system for Palestine,” Hochstein said in an interview on Sunday. 

Even if all political, access, material and financial hurdles are somehow overcome, cities such as Aleppo, Raqqa and Mosul show that progress can still be slow.

Despite the passage of six years or more, vast swathes of these cities remain depopulated and in ruins — testament to the immense challenge of rebuilding after the guns and bombs fall silent.

 


Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
Updated 10 sec ago
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Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms

Gaza aid situation not much improved, US says as deadline for Israel looms
  • Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza

WASHINGTON: Israel has taken some measures to increase aid access to Gaza but has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the enclave, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.
The Biden administration told Israel in an Oct. 13 letter it had 30 days to take specific steps to address the dire humanitarian crisis in the strip, which has been pummeled for more than a year by Israeli ground and air operations that Israel says are aimed at rooting out Hamas militants.
Aid workers and UN officials say humanitarian conditions continue to be dire in Gaza.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around. We have seen an increase in some measurements. We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met,” Miller said.
Miller said the results so far were “not good enough” but stressed that the 30-day period had not elapsed.
He declined to say what consequences Israel would face if it failed to implement the recommendations.
“What I can tell you that we will do is we will follow the law,” he said.
Washington, Israel’s main supplier of weapons, has frequently pressed Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza since the war with Hamas began with the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The Oct. 13 letter, sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, said a failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing the measures on aid access may have implications for US policy and law.
Section 620i of the US Foreign Assistance Act prohibits military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.
Israel on Monday said it was canceling its agreement with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), citing accusations that some UNRWA staff had Hamas links.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said Israel had scaled back the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip to an average of 30 trucks a day, the lowest in a long time.
An Israeli government spokesman said no limit had been imposed on aid entering Gaza, with 47 aid trucks entering northern Gaza on Sunday alone.
Israeli statistics reviewed by Reuters last week showed that aid shipments allowed into Gaza in October remained at their lowest levels since October 2023.


Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case
Updated 16 min 26 sec ago
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Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case

Israel hostages forum demands probe in secrets leak case
  • “The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement

JERUSALEM: A Gaza hostages campaign group called Monday for an investigation into the alleged leak of confidential documents by an ex-aide to Israel’s premier, which may have undermined efforts to secure their release.
A court announced Sunday that Eliezer Feldstein, a former aide to Benjamin Netanyahu, had been detained along with three others for allegedly leaking documents to foreign media.
The case has prompted the opposition to question whether Netanyahu was involved in the leak — an allegation denied by his office.
“The (hostage) families demand an investigation against all those suspected of sabotage and undermining state security,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.
“Such actions, especially during wartime, endanger the hostages, jeopardize their chances of return and abandon them to the risk of being killed by Hamas terrorists.”
The forum represents most of the families of the 97 hostages still held in Gaza after they were seized in the unprecedented October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war.
The Israeli military says 34 of them are dead.
“The suspicions suggest that individuals associated with the prime minister acted to carry out one of the greatest frauds in the country’s history,” the forum said.
“This is a moral low point like no other. It is a severe blow to the remaining trust between the government and its citizens.”
Critics have long accused Netanyahu of stalling in truce negotiations and prolonging the war to appease his far-right coalition partners.
Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet and the army launched an investigation into the breach in September after two newspapers, British weekly The Jewish Chronicle and Germany’s Bild tabloid, published articles based on the classified military documents.
One article claimed a document had been uncovered showing that then Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — later killed by Israel — and the hostages in Gaza would be smuggled into Egypt through the Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border.
The other was based on what was said to be an internal Hamas leadership memo on Sinwar’s strategy to hamper talks toward the liberation of hostages.
The Israeli court said the release of the documents ran the risk of causing “severe harm to state security.”
“As a result, the ability of security bodies to achieve the objective of releasing the hostages, as part of the war goals, could have been compromised,” it added.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, mostly civilians, according to AFP’s count based on official Israeli data, including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has so far killed at least 43,341 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures as reliable.
Meanwhile, late on Monday Netanyahu asked the attorney general to begin investigating other alleged leaks from cabinet meetings during the war.
“Since the beginning of the war, we have witnessed an incessant flood of serious leaks and revelations of state secrets,” he said in a letter to the attorney general, which was posted on his Telegram channel.
“Therefore, I am appealing to you to immediately order the investigation of the leaks in general.”


UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO
Updated 05 November 2024
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UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO

UNRWA ban in Gaza ‘will not make Israel safer’: WHO
  • “This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros says

GENEVA: The chief of the World Health Organization on Monday denounced Israel’s decision to cut ties with the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, saying it would not make the country safer while increasing civilian suffering in Gaza.
“Let me be clear: There is simply no alternative to UNRWA,” the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video posted on X.
“This ban will not make Israel safer. It will only deepen the suffering of the people of Gaza and increase the risk of disease outbreaks,” Tedros added.
His comments came after Israel said it had formally notified the UN of its decision to sever ties with UNRWA, after Israeli lawmakers backed the move last week.
The suspension of the agency, which coordinates nearly all aid in war-ravaged Gaza, sparked global condemnation including from key Israeli backer the United States.
The move is expected to come into force in late January, with the UN Security Council warning it would have severe consequences for millions of Palestinians.
Israel has accused a dozen UNRWA employees of taking part in the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the deadliest in Israeli history.
A series of probes found some “neutrality related issues” at UNRWA but said Israel had not provided evidence for its chief allegations.
The agency, which employs 13,000 people in Gaza, fired nine employees after an internal probe found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks of 7 October.”
UNRWA, which was established in 1949 after the first Arab-Israeli conflict following Israel’s creation a year earlier, provides assistance to nearly six million Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.
“Every day, it provides thousands of medical consultations and vaccinated hundreds of children,” Tedros said, adding that many humanitarian partners rely on UNRWA’s logistical networks to get supplies into Gaza.
He said that the UNRWA staff his organization had worked with were “dedicated health and humanitarian professionals who work tirelessly for their communities under unimaginable circumstances.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers to be reliable.


GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait
Updated 04 November 2024
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GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait

GCC’s chief urges regional collective action at counter-terrorism conference in Kuwait
  • Meeting gathers ministers, UN agency representatives, international organizations

KUWAIT CITY: Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Al-Budaiwi addressed a high-level conference on counter-terrorism and border security on Monday.

The conference, which is being held in Kuwait and ends on Tuesday, has been organized by Kuwait in partnership with Tajikistan and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism.

It gathered ministers, UN agency representatives, and international and regional organizations to help bolster international counter-terrorism efforts.

Al-Budaiwi said: “This important regional conference focuses on border security and combating terrorism, which are vital issues requiring collective action.”

Al-Budaiwi spoke of the GCC’s achievements in security collaboration, including information-sharing and laws targeting terrorism financing.

He added: “The GCC countries have built a common security system through joint agreements, enhancing cooperation in border protection and addressing security threats.”

He stressed the region’s proactive approach in utilizing technology and training personnel to safeguard borders against transnational threats like arms and human trafficking.


Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village

Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village
Updated 04 November 2024
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Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village

Fate of elderly residents uncertain after Israel destroys homes in Lebanese border village
  • Prime minister calls on international community to address Israeli aggression against Lebanon and protect nation’s heritage and cultural sites
  • Three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah

BEIRUT: Dozens of houses and other buildings in the Lebanese border village of Mays Al-Jabal have been destroyed during Israeli incursions over the past 48 hours, residents said. The fate of several elderly villagers, including a woman, who refused to leave their homes before the attacks remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday called on the international community to address Israel’s “continued aggression against Lebanon and its crimes of killing and destruction.”

His appeal came during meetings with ambassadors from the permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, the UK, France, Russia and China — and Sandra de Waal, the EU’s envoy to Lebanon.

The death toll in the country had risen to 2,968 by Sunday evening, officials said, including dozens of children, women and the elderly people who died in the rubble of their homes. The number of wounded has risen to 13,319. Health Minister Firas Abiad said eight hospitals in the south of the country, the Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs are out of service.

The people of Mays Al-Jabal appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross for help to search for survivors who might be trapped under the rubble following the Israeli attacks. Some of the missing were said to be in their 80s and 90s and had received medical and food aid in recent months from the Red Cross, in coordination with UN Interim Force in Lebanon and the Lebanese army.

Explosions during the attacks in Mays Al-Jabal caused tremors similar to those in the towns of Kfarkela, Blida, Mhaibib, Khiam, Ayta Al-Shaab and Ramyah over the past two weeks. Israeli forces were reportedly spotted on the move in the vicinity of Mays Al-Jabal’s government hospital on Monday in preparation for a fresh assault.

Activists on social media shared satellite images of the devastation caused by the Israeli attacks on border villages, from which the inhabitants have fled.

Israeli airstrikes hit the villages of Tyre and Bint Jbeil but did not stop there. A Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Authority center in the town of Bazouriyeh was targeted, killing two paramedics and wounding several people.

Bint Jbeil, Maroun Al-Ras, Yaroun and Aitaroun have also come under sporadic artillery fire, though they were quiet on Monday. However, three people were killed in a raid on a residence in the town of Arabsalim in Iqlim Al-Tuffah region, and an Israeli airstrike on Machghara in Western Bekaa killed four people and left several injured.

The Israeli army said the air force had killed Abu Ali Rida, a Hezbollah leader in the southern Baraachit area said to be responsible for planning and carrying out rocket and anti-tank attacks, and overseeing the activities of Hezbollah operatives in the area.

Hezbollah said it “struck a gathering of soldiers to the east of Maroun Al-Ras, using a suicide drone that reached its intended target.” The group also said Israeli forces “retreated from the Khiam region on Sunday, as well as from Sarda, Al-Amra, Talat Al-Hamames and the vicinity of Al-Wazzani.”

It added that its forces had attacked the Nahariya settlement and the Meron air surveillance base, and launched a suicide-drone assault targeting Israeli forces in the Yiftah settlement.

On Sunday night, Hezbollah said it launched an “air attack with a squadron of suicide drones on a gathering of Israeli forces in the Manara settlement,” and targeted “the settlements of Elite Hashahar, Sha'al, Hatzor, Dalton and Yesud HaMa’ala with rocket barrages.”

Sirens sounded in Acre and Nahariya on Monday. Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, said: “Within 30 minutes this morning, the air force successfully intercepted four drones en route to Israel. Some of these drones originated from Lebanon, while others came from the east. Two of the drones were intercepted before entering the country’s airspace.”

According to Israeli news reports, “a drone was intercepted in the Rekhs Ramim area in Upper Galilee without activating the sirens.” And an Israeli attack on a residence in the Baalbek-Hermel area, close to the Douris municipality, reportedly caused significant damage.

During his meeting with the international envoys, Mikati said Israel had “turned against all the suggested solutions and continues its war crimes in various Lebanese regions, to the extent of targeting archaeological sites. This, in itself, is an additional crime against humanity and must be confronted and stopped.”

He highlighted the “escalation of Israeli hostilities against Lebanon and the atrocities committed, including killings and destruction, which should be brought to the attention of the international community, which remains silent on these events.”

Nations that traditionally “carry the banner of humanity and human rights should exert maximum pressure on Israel to stop its aggression,” Mikati added.

He said the Lebanese government has “welcomed all calls advocating for a ceasefire but Israel has turned against all proposed solutions. We renew our demand to put pressure on Israel to cease its aggression.”

The government previously agreed to “enhance the presence of the army and recruit military personnel,” he continued, and during an upcoming parliamentary session “we will discuss certain executive measures to support recruiting 1,500 members for the army.”

Mikati reiterated the need for the international community to put pressure on Israel to avoid targeting civilians, medical teams and ambulance crews, and handed the envoys “a letter in which he stressed that the ongoing Israeli aggression, especially the attacks on places such as Baalbek and Tyre, have led to the displacement of entire villages and threatened priceless heritage and cultural sites.”

He also presented them with a report on the damage to Lebanon’s health sector caused by the Israeli attacks, and called for “an immediate ceasefire to stop the senseless violence and protect our country’s cultural heritage.”

Mikati urged the Security Council “to take swift and decisive action to protect the historical treasures that are not only part of our national identity but also hold significance as global historical landmarks.”

He added: “We must work together to ensure the preservation of these sites for future generations.”