Figure 1.--The Arab Spring led to the Syrian Civil War (2011) which is still ongoing. As aresult, refugees have fled into the realtive safty of Lebanon. Refugee camps have been set up in the Beqaa Valley. This photograph was taken in one of the camps (2015).

The Beqaa Valley (وادي البقاع‎ ) was known in antiquity as Coele-Syria. It is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. Much of Lebanon is mountanous. The Beqaa is the largest expanse of fertile land in the country and thus Lebanon's major agricultural area. The Beqaa is essentially an elongated plateau. It is not as intensively farmed as the coastal plain because of the lower rainfall and wider temperature variations. It is covered with olive groves, cultivated wheat fields and vineyards amd orcheards (figs and pomegranate trees). There is also some industry, most industrial activity associated with farming. The Beqaa is some 30 km (19 mi) east of Beirut and closer to the Syrian border. The valley is situated between Mount Lebanon to the west and the Anti-Lebanon mountains to the east. It forms the northeasternmost extension of the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from Syria to the Red Sea. Beqaa Valley is 120 kilometres (75 mi) long and 16 kms (10 mi) wide on average. It has a Mediterranean climate of wet, often snowy winters and dry, warm summers. There is limited rainfall, particularly in the north. Mount Lebanon dominates the region and the resulting rain shadow that imterupts precipitation coming from the sea. The northern section has an average annual rainfall of 230 millimetres (9.1 in), compared to 610 millimetres (24 in) in the central valley. And water flows downb frim the mounatin snows. As a result, two rivers originate in the valley: the Orontes (Asi), which flows north into Syria and Turkey, and the Litani, Lebanon's major river, which flows south and then west to the Mediterranean. Lebanon feature in ancient history, but primaruly the coastal area. Here a group of coastal cities created by Phoenicians, a seafaring people related to the Canaanite (3000 BC). They were one of Mediterranean's early civilisations. Over time a siccession of invading waves sweot over Lebanon. During the Roman Era, the Beqaa served as a source of grain as part of the Roman provinces of the Levant. Important Roman ruins dot the Valley today. The Brqaa continues to be an importany agriculotural region -- with some 40 percent of the country's arable land. In additiuoin to grain and fruit, farmers in the Valley grow hashish and opium poppies and are thus involoved in the internatiinal drug trade. The Litani hydroelectricity project, a series of canals and a dam located at Lake Qaraoun at the southern end of the valley, has helped improve the irrigation system. The region is predominantly Shi’ite meaning that Hezbollah supported by Iran is the dominate force and not the Lebanese natioanl government. The Beqaa is one of the most traditional areas and despite the agriultural production one of the poorest regions The Beqaa has been a battleground in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lebanon was one of the Front Line Arab states invading Istael (1948), but vobly with limited dotces. The country was the nmost stable Arab countries untill they offered a haven for the PLO after Black September in Jordan (1970). The center of resistsnce to Israel rose with Hezbollah in the Beqaa Valley, staging terrotist attaks into Israel. Israel responded with an attack into Lebanon to stop the cross-border terror attacks (June 1982). Operation Peace for Galilee led to a prolonged conflict with Lebanon and producing mixed results. Lebanon was once a haven for Palestunian refugees. Some of these camps still exist. But today the refugee proiblem is mostly Syrain refugees fleeing that country's prrotracted civil war.

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Created: 11:14 PM 3/10/2021
Last updated: 11:14 PM 3/10/2021