Marjayoun مرجعيون | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
.jpg) Church in Marjayoun, 1977 | |
  Marjayoun Location in Lebanon | |
| Coordinates:33°21′43″N35°35′23″E / 33.36194°N 35.58972°E /33.36194; 35.58972 | |
| Grid position | 135/158 L |
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | Nabatieh Governorate |
| District | Marjayoun |
| Elevation | 860 m (2,820 ft) |
| Population (2022) | |
• Total | 7,000−10,000 |
| • Religions | Greek Orthodoxy Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Baniyas Maronite Catholicism Greek Catholicism Latin Catholicism Shia Islam Sunni Islam Druze |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
Marjayoun orJdeidet Marjayoun (Arabic:مرجعيون:Lebanese pronunciation[ˈmaɾʒ.ʕajuːn]), alsoMarj 'Ayoun,Marjuyun orMarjeyoun (lit. "meadow of springs") andJdeideh / Jdeida / Jdeidet Marjeyoun, is a municipality in theMarjeyoun District,Nabatieh Governorate inSouthern Lebanon.
On 10 June 1179, during theBattle of Marj Ayyun, theAyyubids defeated theCrusaders. The Crusader king narrowly escaped capture.[1]
In 1596, 'Jadida' appears in thedaftar ofOttomannahiya (subdistrict) ofTibnin in theliwa' (district) ofSafad, as a Muslim village of 28 households and 12 bachelors. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such aswheat,barley, olive trees, vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 9,606akçe.[2][3]
In 1875Victor Guérin visited Marjayoun (which he calledDjedeideh), and found 2,000 inhabitants, mostly "Schismatic Greek" (i.e.MelkiteUniats), but also someGreek Orthodox and Muslims.[4]
Saint Peter's Cathedral, built in 1892, was restored in 1968 after a fire. It was also later restored in 2009.[5]
During theSyria-Lebanon Campaign ofWorld War II, British and Australian forces advancing fromPalestine entered the town on 11 June 1941, but were forced to withdraw on 15 June following aVichy French counterattack.[6] TheAllies recaptured the town on 24 June in theBattle of Merdjayoun.[7]
Marjayoun was the headquarters of theSouth Lebanon Army, the militia that controlled southern Lebanon during Israel's occupation of the region after the1982 Lebanon War until its withdrawal from the region in 2000.[8] Following the pullout, many residents of Marjayoun fled to Israel, fearing accusations of collaboration.[9]
On 10 August 2006, after the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations in the2006 Lebanon War, Israeli forces took control of Marjayoun.[10] The next day, a convoy of 3,000 people fled from the town. The convoy was attacked by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) northeast ofHasbaya en route toKefraya, in the south of theBekaa valley. The bombing killed at least seven people, and is known as theMarjayoun convoy incident.[11]
Marjayoun is 860 metres (2,822 ft) above sea level, standing on the west side of theJordan Rift Valley just across from the ancient regional capital,Caesarea Philippi, which was located at the foot ofMount Hermon on the east side of the Rift Valley.
Marjeyoun stands on a hill facing Mt Hermon to the east, theCrusader castle ofBeaufort, set above theLitani River and overlookingMount Amel (Jabal Amel), to the west, theMount Lebanon range with the Rihan and Niha peaks to the north, with the fertile Marjeyoun plains extending southward into theGalilee plains and theGolan Heights.
In 2014Christians made up 74.36% andMuslims made up 25.36% of registered voters in Marjayoun. 39.05% of the voters wereGreek Orthodox, 18.98% wereGreek Catholics and 19.69% wereSunni Muslims.[12]
The town of Marjayoun has a Christian majority population of about 5,000 people.[dubious –discuss]Greek Orthodox Christians compose the vast majority of the town's population, however, there are alsoMaronite andGreek Catholic Christians living in Marjayoun. Many Marjayouni Christian families trace their roots to theHauran region, in present daySyria.[13] Outside the town, most villages in the surrounding valleys and mountains are predominantlyShia Muslim.[14]
The MelkiteSaint Peter's Cathedral was built in 1892 and restored in 1968 after a fire and in 2009.[15] Marjayoun is the seat of theMelkite (Greek Catholic) Archeparchy of Baniyas, which includes the southeastern part of Lebanon.[16]
Thedistrict of Marjayoun, which includes the town, is largelyShia Muslim. It holds three seats in the Lebanese government, two belonging to Shia Muslims and one belonging toGreek Orthodox Christians.[citation needed]
Marjayoun is home to a regional government hospital founded in 1960,[17] and aLebanese Red Cross First Aid Center.[18] This government hospital was closed due toIsraeli attacks to Lebanon in October 2024 and killed and injured number of hospital staff.[19]
An abandoned airfield is located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Metula. Ruins of buildings and outline of the runways and taxiway are all that remains.In a strategic triangle linking Lebanon with Israel and Syria are located the ruins of "Marjayoun Airport" or what is known as "Al-Marj Airport" or "English Airport". The green color of the Marjayoun Plain is only disturbed by forgotten walls from the days of World War II, their hard stones separating the fertile agricultural lands of the Marjayoun Plain. During the Second World War, the region of the Marjayoun Plain formed an arena of confrontation between the allies on one side and the German army on the other, so the allies had to fortify themselves, specifically in the Marjayoun Plain, which was a defensive area or a back line of confrontations if Egypt fell into the hands of the German army, or if the German Army managed to advance into Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.[20]
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| Climate data for Marjayoun, elevation 773 m (2,536 ft) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 11.1 (52.0) | 11.8 (53.2) | 14.3 (57.7) | 18.3 (64.9) | 22.6 (72.7) | 25.5 (77.9) | 26.7 (80.1) | 27.7 (81.9) | 26.0 (78.8) | 23.8 (74.8) | 18.7 (65.7) | 13.3 (55.9) | 20.0 (68.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 8.6 (47.5) | 10.8 (51.4) | 14.3 (57.7) | 18.3 (64.9) | 20.8 (69.4) | 22.2 (72.0) | 23.0 (73.4) | 21.5 (70.7) | 19.6 (67.3) | 15.1 (59.2) | 10.1 (50.2) | 16.1 (60.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.9 (42.6) | 6.0 (42.8) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.6 (51.1) | 14.1 (57.4) | 16.6 (61.9) | 18.2 (64.8) | 19.1 (66.4) | 17.7 (63.9) | 16.1 (61.0) | 12.3 (54.1) | 7.9 (46.2) | 12.7 (54.9) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 193 (7.6) | 181 (7.1) | 129 (5.1) | 73 (2.9) | 26 (1.0) | 1 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 3 (0.1) | 24 (0.9) | 91 (3.6) | 162 (6.4) | 885 (34.7) |
| Source:FAO[22] | |||||||||||||
Capital:Marjayoun | ||
| Towns and villages |  | |
| Notable landmarks | ||
