Since its establishment in 1980, the International Association to Save Tyre IAST - an NGO accredited by UNESCO - has conducted a worldwide information campaign in order to draw the attention of governments, international organisations and public opinion to the considerable importance, which the safeguarding of Tyre constitutes for humanity.

Founded some three thousand years before Christ, Tyre, one of the ancient capitals of Phoenicia, contains, within its archaeological perimeter, the vestiges of eight successive civilizations: the Phoenician, Persian, Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Arab and Ottoman, as well as that of the Crusaders. This ancient city, which saw the birth of democracy, was once the center of navigation on the high seas and the cradle of maritime trade among nations. We owe to it our knowledge of the alphabet, the discovery of purple dye and the first productions of blown and coloured glass. Tyre is now not only threatened by the ravages of time, and of a long-drawn-out war, but also by the illicit excavation and plunder of its cultural heritage.

THE ACHIEVEMENTS ARE CONSIDERABLE:
United Nations, UNESCO, European Parliament, U.S. Senate, U.K. House of Lords, League of Arab States, etc.., have adopted resolutions to protect this world heritage site.

Thirteen national committees to Save Tyre have been formed in Paris, Brussels, Washington, London, Bonn, Amsterdam, Rome, Tunis, Vienna, Tokyo, Geneva, Madrid and Beirut.

UNESCO launched an International Campaign to Save Tyre on the 3rd of March 1998, along similar lines to Venice and Abu Simbel.

In order to ensure the success of this major campaign for the cultural and socio-economic development of Tyre, the IAST wishes to co-ordinate the efforts of all interested parties and to bring together the greatest number of people possible to work towards the renaissance of this historic site. With this end in mind, we have created the Tyre Foundation whose members will regularly be kept informed of the program. It will thus be possible for them to participate, in so far as they are able, in the various projects of the Foundation.