Beqaa Valley

In the Bronze Age, the Beqaa valley was known as Amqu. While the identity of the inhabitants is not known for certain, the region was part of the Amorite Kingdoms of Amurru and Qatna between 2000–1200 BC. To the southwest of Baalbek, Enišasi, a city or city-state mentioned during the 1350-1335 BC Amarna letters correspondence, was located.

In the Iron Age, the Beqaa valley came to be dominated by Phoenician and Aramaic speaking communities. The valley was the center of an Aramaean kingdom in the 11th and 10th centuries BC, Aram-Zobah, and was possibly the home region of Hazael. The Bekaa was also inhabited by the Itureans, a possibly Arab or Aramean people.

In antiquity, the region was known as "Coele-Syria" to the Greeks and came under rule of the Seleucids, with a brief period of autonomy under the Iturean Kingdom of Chalcis in 80 BC until 64 BC. From their base in the Bekaa, the Itureans expanded their territory to include Phoenician cities on the coast as far as Byblos, and threatened Damascus. Chalcis was eventually absorbed into the rest of Roman Syria in 92 CE. The valley was of considerable importance to the Roman Empire as one of the important agricultural regions in the eastern provinces, and was known for its many temples. The region also gained the attention of the Palmyrene queen Zenobia, who built the Canalizations of Zenobia linking the valley with Palmyra.

Zahlé, the capital of the Beqaa Governorate

Zahlé is the largest city and the administrative capital of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies just north of the main Beirut–Damascus highway, which bisects the valley. The majority of Zahlé's residents are Lebanese Christian, the majority being Melkite Greek Catholic, Maronite Catholic, and Greek Orthodox Christians. The town of Anjar, situated in the eastern part of the valley, has a predominantly Armenian Lebanese population and is also famous for its 8th-century Arab ruins.

The majority of the inhabitants of the northern districts of Beqaa, Baalbek, and Hermel, are Lebanese Shia, with the exception of the town of Deir el Ahmar, whose inhabitants are Christians. The Baalbek and Hermel districts have a Christian and Sunni minority, mainly situated further north along the border with Syria.

The western and southern districts of the valley also have a mixed population of Muslims, Christians, and also Druze. The town of Joub Janine with a population of about 12,000, is situated midway in the valley, and its population is Sunni. Joub Janine is the governmental center of the region known as Western Beqaa, with municipal services like the serail, which is the main government building in the area, emergency medical services (Red Cross), a fire department, and a courthouse. Other towns in the Western Beqaa district are Machghara, Sabghine, Kamed al Lawz, Qab Elias, Sohmor, Yohmor. The towns are all a mix of different Lebanese religious confessions. Rachaiya al Wadi, east of the Western Beqaa district, is home to Lebanon's share of Mount Hermon and borders Syria also. The district's capital, also Rachaiya al Wadi (as not to confuse with Rachaiya al Foukhar in South Lebanon), is famous for its old renovated souk and what is known as the castle of independence in which Lebanon's pre-independence leaders were held by French troops before being released in 1943. The southern section of the district is inhabited with Druze and Christian Lebanese, while the other northern section is mainly inhabited by Sunni Lebanese.

Due to wars and the unstable economic and political conditions Lebanon faced in the past, with difficulties some farmers still face today, many previous inhabitants of the valley left for coastal cities in Lebanon or emigrated from the country altogether, with the majority residing in the Americas or Australia.

Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek

The ancient Roman ruins of Baalbek, an ancient city named for the Canaanite god Baal. The Romans renamed Baalbek "Heliopolis" and built an impressive temple complex, including temples to Bacchus, Jupiter, Venus, and the Sun. Today, the ruins are the site of the Baalbeck International Festival, which attracts artists and performance groups from around the world.

• Temples of the Beqaa Valley, a collection of shrines and Roman temples dispersed throughout the valley, including in Qasr el Banat and Hosn Niha
• Tomb of Khawla, a shrine dedicated to Khawla the daughter of Husayn, the son of Ali and grandson of Prophet Muhammad
• The Umayyad ruins of Anjar
• Our Lady of Bekaa, a Marian shrine located in Zahlé, with panoramic views of the valley.
• The Aammiq Wetland habitat for a myriad of migrating and resident birds and butterflies
• The Roman Grotto under Château Ksara winery
• Lebanon's tallest minaret, located in the town of Kherbet Rouha
• The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Bechouat
• Roman nymphaeum of Temnin el-Foka
• Lake Qaraoun, the largest artificial water reservoir in Lebanon
• Phoenician ruins of Kamid al lawz
• Roman ruins of Libbaya
• Roman ruins of Qab Elias
• The Pyramid tower of Hermel at the northern end of the valley
• The famous Wadi Arayesh area of Zahlé, consisting of beautiful open air restaurants, cafes and arcades located on the river side of the Berdaouni river, a stream linking to the Litani

The Beqaa Valley is home to Lebanon's famous vineyards and wineries. Wine making is a tradition that goes back 6000 years in Lebanon. With an average altitude of 1000 m above sea level, the valley's climate is very suitable to vineyards. Abundant winter rain and much sunshine in the summer helps the grapes ripen easily. There are more than a dozen wineries in the Beqaa Valley, producing over six million bottles a year.[1] Beqaa Valley wineries include:

• Château Ka
• Château Kefraya
• Château Khoury
• Château Ksara[2]
• Château Marsyas
• Château Musar[3]
• Château Qanafar
• Clos Saint Thomas
• Domaine de Baal
• Domaine des Tourelles
• Domaine Wardy[4]
• Kroum Kefraya
• Massaya[5]

Municipal garden of Qabb Ilyas

Drugs have a long tradition in the Beqaa Valley, from the days of the Roman Empire to the present, cultivators and tribal drug lords have worked with militias to build up a thriving cannabis trade. During the Lebanese Civil War, cannabis cultivation was a major source of income in the Beqaa valley, where most of the country's hashish and opium was produced. The trade collapsed during the worldwide crackdown on narcotics led by the United States in the early 1990s. Under pressure from the U.S. State Department, the occupying Syrian Army plowed up the Beqaa's cannabis fields and sprayed them with poison. Prior to 1991 it was estimated that income generated from illicit crops grown in the Beqaa was around $500 million. According to the UNDP the annual per capita income at that time in the Baalbek and Hermel district did not exceed $500; the same agency estimated the figure for the rest of Lebanon was $2,074.[6] Since the mid-1990s, the culture and production of drugs in the Beqaa valley has been in steady decline, by 2002 an estimated 2,500 hectares[7] of cannabis were limited to the extreme north of the valley, where government presence remains minimal. Every year since 2001 the Lebanese army plows cannabis fields in an effort to destroy the crops before harvest,[8] it is estimated that that action eliminates no more than 30% of overall crops. Although important during the civil war, opium cultivation has become marginal, dropping from an estimated 30 metric tonnes per year in 1983 to negligible amounts in 2004.

Due to increasing political unrest that weakened the central Lebanese government during 2006 Lebanon War and 2007 (Opposition boycott of the government) and due to the lack of viable alternatives (UN promises of irrigation projects and alternative crop subsidies that never materialised) drug cultivation and production have significantly increased,[9][10] but remain a fraction of the civil war production and limited north of the town of Baalbek, where the rule of tribal law protecting armed families is still strong.

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  Arches at the ruins of Anjar
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  Road in the desert
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  Remains of structures
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  Kamid el-Loz village

• Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beqaa valley.

• Beqaa Photo Gallery Ya Libnan