Marjayoun

Marjayoun is 860 metres (2,822 ft) above sea level, standing on the west side of the Jordan Rift Valley just across from the ancient regional capital, Caesarea Philippi, which was located at the foot of Mount Hermon on the east side of the Rift Valley. It is not to be confused with the Banias Springs at Caesarea Philippi.

Marjeyoun stands on a hill facing Mt Hermon to the east, the Crusader castle of Beaufort, set above the Litani River and overlooking Mount Amel (Jabal Amel), to the west, the Mount Lebanon range with the Rihan and Niha peaks to the north, with the fertile Marjeyoun plains extending southward into the Galilee plains and the Golan Heights.

The town of Marjayoun has an overwhelmingly Christian population of about 5,000 people. Greek Orthodox Christians compose the vast majority of the town's population, however, there are also Maronite and Greek Catholic Christians living in Marjayoun. Outside the town, most villages in the surrounding valleys and mountains are predominantly Shia Muslim.[8]

The Melkite Saint Peter's Cathedral was built in 1892 and restored in 1968 after a fire and in 2009.[9] Marjayoun is the seat of the Melkite (Greek Catholic) Archeparchy of Baniyas, which includes the southeastern part of Lebanon.[10]

Marjayoun is home to a regional government hospital founded in 1960, and a Lebanese Red Cross First Aid Center.[11]

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 Palestine 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.[12]

• Michael DeBakey (1908–2008) – cardiac surgeon, whose parents are from Marjeyoun
• Brigitte Gabriel – journalist, author and lecturer
• Walid Gholmieh – director of the Le Conservatoire libanais national supérieur de musique; born in Marjeyoun
• Major Saad Haddad – founder and head of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) during the Lebanese Civil War
• James Jabara – Lebanese-American U.S. Air Force Major, the first jet ace of the Korean war, flew missions in WW II and Vietnam; born in 1923 in Muskogee, Oklahoma, both his father, John Jabara, and mother being immigrants from Marjeyoun
• Dr. Richard Jabara, born in Marjeyoun (1920–1967), philanthropist, founded several hospitals from Tripoli in Lebanon to Saudi Arabia[13]
• George Jordac (1931–2014) – author and poet.
• Alfred Naifeh, born 1915 in Covington, Tennessee, to a Lebanese immigrant family from Jdeidet Marjeyoun; U.S. naval destroyer USS Naifeh is named after him
• Issam Mahfouz (1939–2006) – writer, journalist
• Anthony Shadid – journalist
• Michael Shadid – physician, born in Marjeyoun

• Antiochian Greek Christians
• Arab Christians
• Christianity in Lebanon
• Greek genocide
• Greek Orthodox (Roum Orthodox) Christians in Lebanon
• History of Arab Christians
• History of Eastern Christianity
• History of the Eastern Orthodox Church under the Ottoman Empire
• Lebanese Americans
• Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians

• Marjaayoun, Localiban
• Marjeyoun Heritage Preservation Program (MHPP)
• marjeyoun.net - unofficial website
• Information about Marjayoun, Lebanon at marjayoun.com
• Khiam official website
• "Jdeideh Marjeyoun Now & Then" video (MHPP)
• Marjayoun on Google Map