UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The new head of the U.N. cultural agency warned Thursday that 17 of the 82 World Heritage sites in the Arab region are on its "danger" list because of conflicts.

Audrey Azoulay, who took the helm of the educational, scientific and cultural agency known as UNESCO earlier this month, said over 100 sites across Iraq have been damaged.

She told a U.N. Security Council meeting Thursday on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage by terrorists and during conflicts that all six World Heritage sites in Syria have been "severely affected" including Palmyra and Aleppo,...