Siddikine

Siddikine or Seddiqine (Arabic: صديقين) is a small town in Southern Lebanon, located in Tyre District, Governorate of South Lebanon. It is situated 2km south of Qana beside the main road to Tebnine.

Siddikine
صديقين
Town
Map showing the location of Siddikine within Lebanon
Map showing the location of Siddikine within Lebanon
Siddikine
Location within Lebanon
Coordinates: 33°11′24″N 35°18′37″E
Grid position179/288 PAL
Country Lebanon
GovernorateSouth Lebanon Governorate
DistrictTyre District
Elevation
370 m (1,210 ft)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Dialing code+9617

Origin of name

E. H. Palmer wrote that the name means "the truthful ones".[1] The Arabic name is transliterated as Siddikine or Seddiqine.[2]

History

In 1596, it was named as a village, Sidiqin, in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 46 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues; a total of 10,752 akçe.[3][4]

In 1875, Victor Guérin noted: "Here are what appears to be the remains of an ancient synagogue. Its direction is from south to north, which is the general direction of the ancient synagogues of Palestine; and, besides, here I remarked two monolithic pillars, cut one side in pilaster fashion, and rounded on the other side like a half column. This kind of pillar generally terminates the end of the range of columns in these synagogues."[5]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it: "A village, built of stone, with many ruined houses; contains about 150 Metawileh; surrounded by figs, gardens, and arable land. Water from cisterns and 'Ain el Tuzeh."[6]

They further noted: "There are remains of an early Christian site at this village; some well-dressed stones scattered about with crosses on them: There are also rock-cut cisterns, tombs, and stone olive and wine presses. The site of the ancient place was a little to the north of the present village."[7]

In May 1988, during the fighting between Amal and Hizbollah, the Amal militia attacked Hizbollah forces in Siddikine. After three days of fighting, in which fifty were killed, the Amal fighters succeeded in taking the village. At the time it had been Hizbollah’s last stronghold in Southern Lebanon.[8]

On 19 May 2021, about two weeks after the beginning of the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, four rockets were reportedly launched from near Siddikine towards Israel.[2] According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), its missile defences intercepted one of them, while the other projectiles fell in open areas. The IDF fired artillery in response,[9] apparently towards the outskirts of Siddikine.[10]

References
  1. Palmer, 1881, p. 32
  2. "Four rockets launched from Lebanon to Israel, Lebanese security sources". Reuters. 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  3. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 179
  4. Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 Archived 2016-10-10 at the Wayback Machine writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
  5. Guérin, 1880, p. 389; as translated in Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 139
  6. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 94
  7. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. 138
  8. Hirst, David (2010) Beware of Small States. Lebanon, battleground of the Middle East. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-23741-8 p.235
  9. Ayyub, Rami (2021-05-19). "Israel fires at south Lebanon in response to rocket launches - Israeli military". SWI swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  10. Gross, Judah Ari (2021-05-19). "Israeli military firing at source of rocket attacks in Lebanon". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2021-05-19.

Bibliography
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