Welcome to Lebanon
Zahle - A city from Lebanon
Zahlé (Arabic: زحلة; also transliterated
Zahlah or Zahleh) is the capital of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With
around 100,000 inhabitants[1], which makes it the 8th largest city in
Lebanon. The population is mostly Christian. Zahle is called the bride
of the Bekaa Valley. It is famous for its clean air, its resorts and its
food.
The city is situated 45 km to the East of the Lebanese capital Beirut.
It is the only predominantly Christian city in the Middle East. Famous
for its old churches, outdoor restaurants, unique food and a water
powered ice factory in Wadi El Arayesh. It's possible to drive a car
from Zahlé to Beirut in 30 to 60 minutes, depending on traffic. Zahle is
on average 900 meters above sea level.
Zahlé in History
Zahlé was founded about 300 years ago by Toufic Saliba in an area whose
past reaches back some five millennia. In the early 18th century the new
town was divided into three separate quarters, each of which had its own
governor. The city enjoyed a brief period as the region's first
independent state in the 19th century when it had its own flag and
anthem. Zahlé was burned in 1777 and 1791, and it was burned and
plundered in 1860. But during the rule of the Mutasarrifiah, Zahlé began
to regain its prosperity. The railroad line which came through in 1885
improved commerce and the town became the internal "port" of the Beqaa
and Syria. It was also the center of agriculture and trade between
Beirut and Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad. Considered the birthplace of the
Lebanese army, Zahlé has played a major role in the political life of
the country.
Zahlé war
The Battle of Zahle
Zahle, the capital of Bekaa Province in eastern Lebanon, had a
population of some 150,000 which was primarily Greek Catholic, and it
was in the heart of the Syrian occupied zone of Lebanon and lay on the
vital Beirut-Damascus highway. Throughout the war Zahle suffered many
sieges and attacks by leftist and Palestinian forces but its people
always managed to hold out, fighting alongside the small contingent of
Lebanese Front militia that were based there.
The location of Zahle made it of such importance that the Syrians felt
they had to control the city and needed a reason to station their troops
there. In December 1980, the Palestinian forces around Zahle were
incited by the Syrians to shell the city and on the 19th heavy fighting
broke out between the Syrians and the small Lebanese Forces contingent
after the Syrians sent a patrol down the Zahle Boulevard, the patrol was
attacked and five Syrian soldiers and one Syrian Major were killed.
Although the Syrian command acknowledged sending the patrol into Zahle
and the resulting deaths as accidental, Syria demanded the surrender of
the persons involved in the incident to its command. A forty-eight-hour
ultimatum was served to the Zahle leadership and also to the Phalangist
and NLP commanders of the district. When a unanimously negative reply
was returned, Syrian forces besieged the city with troops and tanks
under artillery cover. The incident at Zahle enabled the Syrians to take
advantage of the prevailing instability in the rightist coalition and
the weakness of the Beirut government. In day-long battles, the Syrian
forces were repulsed time and again as both General Said Taiyan and
Syria's Defense Minister, Major-General Mustafa Tlas, were rushed to the
scene to study the unexpectedly strong resistance. At the same time,
Bashir Gemayel put his forces on full alert; however, he held the doors
open for a negotiated settlement. During the fighting two Syrian
helicopters were also hit as they tried to bring in reinforcements. The
Lebanese Forces command rushed Guardians of the Cedars troops from
Beirut in support of the local forces in Zahle.
A ceasefire was quickly imposed on December 26, 1980 and fighting soon
died down but blood had been drawn.
Not wanting Zahle to be cut off from Mount Lebanon and to reduce its
vulnerability to siege, the Lebanese Forces began constructing a road
linking Baskinta to Zahle so as to avoid passing through Syrian held
territory. The Syrians were against the contsruction of the road and
responded by again surrounding Zahle with 2600 troops. The people of
Zahle started take up arms and prepaired for the inevitable Syrian
assault. On April 2, 1981 Syria began bombarding the city. At the start
of the battle the Syrian commander announced that his troops had moved
to evict the Lebanese Forces from Zahle as it was vital for Syrian
security to prevent the construction of the road between Mount Lebanon
and Zahle.
On the first day of battle the Syrians tried to seize the high ground
above the city but were repelled with the loss of three armoured
vehicles and the death of over twenty soldiers and so the next day the
Syrians retaliated with an artillery barrage on east Beirut which
inflicted heavy civilian casualties. For days the Syrians launched
assault after assault and the city but were unable to breach the
defences of Zahle due to the stiff resistance put up by the people of
Zahle themselves as well as the small number of troops stationed there.
Syrian forces in the capital were redeployed to Zahle to bolster
artillery fire, which was rapidly turning central Zahle into ruins. The
population of Zahle refused to surrender and so it was decided by the
Syrians that they would force it to submission through siege. Ghassan
Tueni, Lebanon's delegate to the United Nations, called for UNIFIL
forces to take over the Zahle region. As the situation grew critical,
Lebanon's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Hassan al-Khalid, joined with Pope John
Paul II in expressing concern over the intensive fighting. Both men
reasserted the obvious fact that the conflict in Lebanon was not
religious in nature.
At the start of 1981 Syria had launched its "Program of National
Reconciliation", which was designed to install Sulayman Franjieh as
president. Bashir Gemayel found the proposition unpalatable, but he was
impotent to oppose it politically. Therefore, to strengthen his position
he desperately needed a victory in Zahle. Bashir Gemayel needed to
reinforce Zahle and managed to infiltrate another 100 Lebanese Forces
militiamen into the city to support the forces already there and to
attack Syrian positions and to shell the Syrian headquarters in the
adjacent town of Shtawrah.
By the last week of April, two ineffectual cease-fires had collapsed and
Syrian Mig jets had strafed the outskirts of the beleaguered town. This
was, apparently, an attempt to show the Phalangists that Syria still had
an open option--air power. The Zahle defenders could either surrender or
face annihilation by air attack. The air raid was followed by a
land-based missile attack, using Soviet-made Grad rockets. The attacks
drove the Lebanese Forces from the outlying city buildings, giving the
Syrians their first, tentative, victory.
The town sagged under heavy fire as its defenders began to run low on
food, medical supplies, and ammunition. An attempt to break out and
reach the suburbs of Beirut was abruptly terminated by Syrian special
forces in their distinctive tiger-patterned uniforms. Supply lines were
set up from Ouyoun El Simman and Baskinta. The weather conditions were
terrible with heavy snow covering the mountain peaks over which many of
the supplies were brought in on foot.They were aided by tactical air
power. The siege of Zahle was beginning to resemble a new version of the
campaign for Tal Zaatar.
At the end of April, the Syrians had entered into direct negotiations
with the Zahle leadership and had reached a tentative accord. The
agreement called for a pullback by the Syrians, the safe removal of the
right-wing militiamen, and the assignment of the Lebanese police to
secure the town. The Phalangists considered the agreement a victory, for
it ended Syrian attempts to infiltrate the city.
However, Syria would not accept a plan that insulted its prerogatives
and disputed its power and authority in Lebanon. President Assad ordered
artillery fire and helicopter assaults against the Phalangist
fortifications. The choppers flew Syrian special forces into battle for
Mt. Sannin, in the hills above Zahle, which overlooked and guarded the
Bekaa Valley. The Syrian troops, rappelling downward from the choppers,
ran into a group of militiamen on patrol and a fire-fight ensued. The
Lebanese Front ordered its negotiating team in Zahle to cut off all
talks with the Syrians. Pulling out at this point, was seen as a defeat
for Syria. The Syrian Air Force went into action, strafing Gharfat al-Fransawiye,
a mountain stronghold of the militia, about eight miles west of Zahle.
The second air attack came on the twenty-sixth day of the conflict.
Soon afterward, the Syrian forces began to move against the hilltop
emplacements above the city, which had been established and fortified by
the Lebanese Forces to protect the main entrance to the city. Bashir
Gemayel ordered his entombed militia to fight to the end, pledging every
possible effort to reach them with additional supplies and manpower.
Meanwhile, Syrian reinforcements poured into the battle, creating
traffic congestion along the Beirut-Damascus highway and its arterials.
The hills above Zahle became the prime targets for Syrian gunners. The
town itself was completely encircled, with Syrian soldiers holding all
access points under tight siege. The Lebanese Forces in Zahle had been
badly mauled and battered, but their fighting spirit was undiminished.
Moreover, the Syrians knew this, for they had committed approximately
half their force of twenty-two thousand men to the campaign. The
mountain strongholds, which overlooked Zahle, remained in rightist
hands, forcing the Syrian command to send additional airborne troops
into battle.
As the fighting intensified Gemayel called an urgent meeting with Begin
and convinced him that the Syrians intended to follow through on the
siege with an all-out attack on the Christian heartland and urged Israel
to launch an air strike against the Syrians. On April 28, the Israeli
cabinet convened and authorized a limited air strike, but it did so over
the strident objections of Israel's intelligence chiefs, who suspected
that the crisis was a Lebanese Forces ploy. Israeli fighter jets carried
out the raid and downed two Syrian helicopter troop transports on Mount
Sannine, a strategic mountain overlooking Zahle. The brief air battle
astronomically raised tensions to a new climax by pitting the Syrians
against their archenemy, the Israelis. The Syrians backed off a bit but
then resumed an around-the-clock artillery bombardment of the town,
pledging to leave it in total devastation, a pile of rubble for the
Phalangists to sift through, if it refused to surrender.
Moreover, to counter the Israeli moves, Syria introduced at least nine
antiaircraft missiles, SAM-6s, near the Riyaq air base, in the Bekaa
Valley. Under the cover of the missiles, the Syrians sent land forces up
Mt. Sannin and took it from its defenders in heavy, bloody, close
combat. The rightists were exhausted and had run out of ammunition and
supplies. Zahle however, held fast, repulsing one attack after another.
As the days went on sharp differences erupted within the Lebanese Forces
in Zahle as to how to best defend the city. The forces in Zahle had been
unprepared for a big showdown. Fouad Abou Nader and Boutros Khawand were
dispatched to settle matters as well as the commander of the LF armored
battalion, Joseph Elias who was himself from Zahle and had a tough
reputation. However, they failed to reconcile the field commanders.
By the time Samir Geagea arrived the Lebanese Forces command
headquarters had been wrecked by Syrian shelling and the officers were
in complete disarray. Geagea decided to immediately return to Beirut and
left in the middle of the night via Wadi Al Arayesh with about 40 troops
who had also decided to return to Beirut fed up with the break down of
the command structure. Geagea's report stated that the city was a total
military loss but Bashir refused to abandon Zahle.
The siege of Zahle and heavy fighting continued throughout May and
reached its formal end on 30th June when it was agreed that both sides
would withdraw their forces. Local Lebanese Forces troops had to disarm
and forces from Beirut had to leave. The security of Zahle was handed
over to Lebanese government internal security forces. The Syrians would
be allowed to maintain check points around Zahle to prevent the Lebanese
Forces form returning. Trucks and buses were provided to evacuate the
Lebanese Forces fighters and 95 returned to Beirut on 1 July 1981. Over
the next couple of days the Syrians pulled out of their fortifications
about the city. Failure to defeat Zahle was a humiliation for the
Syrians and a victory for Bashir Gemayel. Of far greater significance,
however, was the exceptionally strong resistance put forth by the
right-wing militiamen. They had shown considerable strength and
resourcefulness, tenacity, and spirit in blunting the Syrian thrust. For
the time being, the Syrians would forgo any attempt to advance against
other towns in the predominantly Christian part of northern Lebanon.
The civilian casualties were 223 killed and 765 wounded with very heavy
material damage. Many died many because of a lack of medical supplies
and also as a result of the water being purposely cut off by the Syrians
causing epidemics to break out.
Gemayel persevered in his plot to embroil Israel in a full scale war
with Syria. In late 1980, after a series of meetings with Begin, he
reportedly obtained a secret Israeli pledge to provide a defensive
umbrella against a potential Syrian air attack. This pledge virtually
committed Israel to fight Syria at Gemayel's behest, although Israel
admonished the Lebanese Forces not to attack the Syrians
Zahlé's Bardouni Restaurants
The Bardouni is a river that flows out of Mount Sannine and down through
Zahlé. It is also a name synonymous with Lebanon's famous mezze and the
delights of outdoor dining. The Bardouni restaurant tradition began over
a hundred years ago with a few simple riverside cafes. Today it is a
virtual bazaar of tree-shaded eating places known as "casinos", every
one more inviting than the next. Not surprisingly, competition is
fierce, so each establishment outdoes itself with fountains, pools, and
cooling shade to tempt potential customers. Here you can enjoy the
traditional Lebanese mezze as it is served nowhere else. To add to the
sense of timelessness, delicious mountain bread is baked before your
eyes and a man in baggy trousers and fez is on hand to pour Lebanese
coffee. He can also provide diners with a hubble-bubble (water pipe). On
the cliffs above the Bardouni are the restaurants of Kaa el Reem, also
known for their excellent food and atmosphere.
The river Bardaouni which crosses the city is shallow, especially during
summer.
Wine and Arak
Zahlé's association with the grape is pervasive, for it lies at the
heart of an area that has been making wine since early antiquity. At the
city's southern entrance the statue of a graceful female personifies
wine and poetry, but you don't have to look far to see evidence of the
real thing. The hills north of town with names like Wadi Hadi, Harqat,
Bir Ghazour and Tell Zeina are covered with the neat rows of vineyards
that supply Zahle's wine and arak industries. Many of the wines have
been formally recognized abroad for their fine quality–equal to some of
the best in Europe.[citation needed] A tour of Zahlé's Ksara winery is a
good way to see how wine and arak are made. Of special interest here are
the extensive underground caves built around a natural grotto known and
enlarged by the Romans
Local Celebrations
Each year between the 10th and 20th of September Zahlé mounts its
week-long " Festival of the Vine", a celebration shared with the city's
" Flower Festival". In a carnival-like atmosphere "Miss Vine" is elected
and cars are decorated with flowers representing national symbols.
Zahlé is also famous for its Corpus Christi festival which dates back to
1825 when the town was spared the ravages of a contagious disease.
Corpus Christi is celebrated on the first Thursday of June with a
torch-light parade held on the eve of the festival. The next morning a
mass takes place at Our Lady of Najat Church, followed by a procession
of townspeople carrying the "Holy Bread" through the streets.
Christian pilgrims and tourists also visit the tower of Our Lady of
Bekaa for panoramic views of the Beqaa Valley.
Meaning of name
It is speculated that the name Zahlé is derived from the Arabic verb زحل
zahhala, which means to push away, to dislodge, to displace. The
occasional landslides which take place in the area around the city may
have been the origin of its name.[citation needed][[Category:Articles
with unsourced statements since 5 June 2007]]
Zahlé Families
Abdayem
Abou Khater
Abou Sleiman
Abou Takka
Abou Zeidan
Abras
Ammoury
Asar
Azoon (or Azoun; variants of Qazoun)
Bou Zaidan
Braidy
Bsaybes
Chaachaa
Chammas
Chedid
Choueiri
Cortas
Fadel
Frenn
Geha
Ghattas
Ghorra
Haidar
Hajj-Chahine (El)
Hakim (El-Hakim)
Harika(abou dib)
Hatem
Hindi
Houjaij (Hjeij, Hojeij)
el-Hawzi (Housey)
Ibrahim
Jreissati
Kandalaft
Karak
Kassarjeh (Kassarjé)
Kassouf
Kfoury
Khalaf
Khazzaka
Khoury
Koury (variant of Khoury)
Kraytem
Louis
Ltaif (Lteif)
Maalouf (one of the 7 founding family that created Zahle)
Maksoud
Matli
MOUTRAN
Mezeraaneh (Mezeraané)
Mimassi (Mimessi)
Nabhan
Naddour
Nader (Neder)
NAHAS
Nammour
Nasrallah
Nehmeh (Nehmehé)
Noumair (Nmeir)
Qazoun
Rahman
Ray
Ramia
Remaili
Saadi
Sabbouha
Saliba
Saif
Sarrage
Saikaly
Skaf (Skef)
Srour
Sadek
Stanbouli
Tabbah
Tarchichi
Teeny
Tenn
Tohme
Turk
Youssef
Zaatar
Zalaquett
Zarzur
Zino
Zgheib (Zougheib)
Zrien