PARIS— UNESCO experts have blamed the United States for damaging Babylon, one of the world’s great archaeological sites, during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Now the U.N. cultural agency wants to make Babylon a World Heritage Site.

UNESCO is hoping to enforce international conventions to protect the 4,000-year-old city, and Francoise Riviere, the agency’s undersecretary general for culture, says she wants to make sure that “what happened to Babylon can’t ever happen again.” As violence has decreased in Iraq, the U.S. State Department is funding a two-year, $700,000 project to develop a program aimed at balancing tourism and archaeology at Babylon. The Future of Babylon Project is a partnership of the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based nonprofit organization, and Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities and Heritage.

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