the Umayyad Mosque in the old city of Aleppo, on fire during clashes between government troops and rebels.

PARIS — UNESCO chief Irina Bokova on Wednesday called for the creation of “protected cultural zones” to save heritage sites in conflict-torn Iraq and Syria that were at risk of “cultural cleansing.”

Efforts should start with the “highly iconic site” of the Umayyad mosque in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Bokova told a Paris conference on safeguarding the two countries’ cultural riches.

“I believe that the Umayyad mosque, located within the World Heritage site of the old city of Aleppo, could and should be our starting point. It is not too late to take action,” she said.

“We must create protected cultural zones around heritage sites, through stronger engagement with local actors.”

More than three years into a bloody civil war, Syria’s historical sites have suffered from widespread looting and damage, according to UNESCO.

The situation has worsened since “Islamic State” militants seized swathes of Syria and Iraq in recent months, destroying sites they consider idolatrous or heretical.

In Iraq, the extremist group has destroyed shrines, churches and precious manuscripts in Mosul, Tikrit and other areas it controls and excavated sites to sell objects abroad.

Bokova condemned the attacks on cultural heritage and the black market dealings of looted items, calling them “part of a strategy of deliberate cultural cleansing of exceptional violence.”

“I call on all parties involved in military operations to immediately stop all military use and targeting of cultural sites,” Bokova said.

The minaret of Aleppo’s famed Umayyad mosque was destroyed last year. The mosque was set ablaze during clashes between government forces and rebels. The mosque, originally built in the 8th century and then rebuilt in the 13th century, has been left pockmarked by bullets.

The ancient covered market, or souk, has also been damaged by the intense fighting in Syria’s second city.

Bokova called for an international ban on art stolen from the war-torn Middle East.

She said the trafficking of objects obtained through illegal excavations in Syria and Iraq countries is an industry now worth between $7 billion and $15 billion.

“(A U.N. ban) is critical in order to curb the financial flows, because there is the other dark side of this process: that extremists are using this money to fund their activities,” she said. “If the international community and the Security Council want to stop the financing of the terrorists, they need to look also at the trafficking of objects of art.”

Bokova added that “there can be no purely military solution to this crisis. To fight fanaticism, we also need to reinforce education, a defence against hatred, and protect heritage, which helps forge collective identity.”

 This was supported by both Staffan de Mistura, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria, and Nikolay Mladenov, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative to Iraq, who emphasized the need to integrate education and culture into emergency measures, along with humanitarian aid, to protect human rights and vulnerable civilian populations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke at the conference, describing the protection of historical sites as “imperative.”