Muhaibib محيبيب | |
|---|---|
Municipality | |
  Muhaibib Location within Lebanon | |
| Coordinates:33°09′17″N35°30′20″E / 33.15472°N 35.50556°E /33.15472; 35.50556 | |
| Grid position | 197/284PAL |
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | Nabatieh Governorate |
| District | Marjayoun District |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Dialing code | +961 |
Muhaibib (Arabic:محيبيب), also spelledMhaibib, is a municipality in theMarjayoun District in southernLebanon.
Muhaibib holds a shrine toBenjamin, who Islam considers aprophet, which attracts pilgrims and visitors. In October 2024, Israeli forces demolished and bombed the entire village including the shrine.[1][2]
E. H. Palmer wrote that the nameNeby Muheibîb meant "the prophet Muheibîb", "beloved".[3]
In 1881, thePEF'sSurvey of Western Palestine (SWP) describedNeby Muheibib as: "a small village [a]round thestoneNeby, containing about seventyMoslems, situated on top of ridge, with olives and arable land; there are twocisterns in the village."[4]
During the2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, theIsrael Defence Forces (IDF) released footage of themselves destroying nearly the entirety of Muhaibib.[5][6]The New York Times connected a statement in which the IDF claimed that they had 'dismantled a tunnel network used byHezbollah's eliteRedwan Forces' to the destruction of the village.[5] Al Jazeera published footage of Israeli soldiers they claimed were celebrating the destruction of the village.[7]
The spokesperson for the USDepartment of State,Matthew Miller, said that "we do not want to see entire villages destroyed", nor "civilian homes".[8] He claimed that there was potential for Hezbollah presence inside civilian homes.[5] He then said: "I don't know what was in those buildings, I don't know what was potentially underneath those buildings."[9]
In 2014Muslims made up 99.55% of registered voters in Muhaibib. 97.91% of the voters wereShiite Muslims.[10]
Capital:Marjayoun | ||
| Towns and villages |  | |
| Notable landmarks | ||
