Geography

A Middle Eastern country, Lebanon is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west with a 225 km coastline, by Syria to the east and north, and by Israel to the south. The Lebanon-Syria border stretches for 375 km, while the Lebanon-Israel border is 79 km in length. The border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in Syria is disputed by Lebanon in a small area called Shebaa Farms, but the border has been demarcated by the United Nations.

Lebanon has a total area of 10,452 sq km (4,035 sq mi), making it the 166th largest country in the world (after Jamaica), and slightly smaller than Northern Ireland. The country is roughly rectangular in shape, becoming narrower toward the south and the farthest north. Its widest point is 88 kilometres, and its narrowest is 32 kilometres; the average width is about 56 kilometres. Most of that area is mountainous terrain, except for the narrow coastline and the Beqaa Valley, an integral part of Lebanon's agriculture.

Terrain

The physical geography of Lebanon is influenced by natural systems that extend outside the country. Thus, the Biqa Valley is part of the Great Rift system, which stretches from southern Turkey to Mozambique in Africa. Like any mountainous country, Lebanon's physical geography is complex. Land forms, climate, soils and vegetation differ markedly within short distances. There are also sharp changes in other elements of the environment, from good to poor soils, as one moves through the Lebanese mountains.

A major feature of Lebanese topography is the alternation of lowland and highland that runs generally parallel with a north-to-south orientation. There are four such longitudinal strips between the Mediterranean Sea and Syria: the coastal strip (or the maritime plain), western Lebanon, the central plateau, and eastern Lebanon.

The Coastal Strip

The extremely narrow coastal strip stretches along the shore of the eastern Mediterranean. Hemmed in between sea and mountain, the sahil, as it is called in Lebanon, is widest in the north near Tripoli, where it is only 6.5 kilometres wide. A few kilometres south at Juniyah, the approximately 1.5-kilometer-wide plain is succeeded by foothills that rise steeply to 750 metres within 6.5 kilometres from the sea. For the most part, the coast is abrupt and rocky. The shoreline is regular with no deep estuary, gulf or natural harbour. The maritime plain is especially productive of fruits and vegetables.

Western Lebanon

The western range, the second major region, is the Lebanon Mountains, sometimes called Mount Lebanon, a term used since Roman days (antilibanos (Anti-Lebanon) was used to designate the eastern range). Geologists believe that the twin mountains once formed one range.

The Lebanon Mountains are the highest, most rugged, and most imposing of the whole maritime range of mountains and plateaus that start with the Amanus or Nur Mountains in northern Syria and end with the towering massif of Sinai. The mountain structure forms the first barrier to communication between the Mediterranean and Lebanon's eastern hinterland.

The mountain range is a clearly defined unit having natural boundaries on all four sides. On the north it is separated from the Nusayriyah Mountains of Syria by An Nahr al Kabir ("the great river"); on the south it is bounded by Al Qasimiyah River, giving it a length of 169 kilometres. Its width varies from about 56.5 kilometres near Tripoli to 9.5 kilometres on the southern end. It rises to alpine heights southeast of Tripoli, where Al Qurnat as Sawda ("the black nook") reaches 3,360 metres. Of the other peaks that rise east of Beirut, Jabal Sannin (2,695 metres) is the highest.

Ahl al Jabal ("people of the mountain"), or simply jabaliyyun, has referred traditionally to the inhabitants of western Lebanon. Near its southern end, the Lebanon Mountains branch off to the west to form the Shuf Mountains.

Central Plateau

The third geographical region is the Biqa Valley. This central highland between the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains is about 177 kilometres in length and 9.6 to 16 kilometres wide and has an average elevation of 762 metres. Its middle section spreads out more than its two extremities. Geologically, the Biqa is the medial part of a depression that extends north to the western bend of the Orontes River in Syria and south to Jordan through Al Arabah to Al Aqabah, the eastern arm of the Red Sea. The Biqa is the country's chief agricultural area and served as a granary of Roman Syria. Biqa is the Arabic plural of buqaah, meaning a place with stagnant water.

Eastern Lebanon

Emerging from a base south of Homs in Syria, the eastern mountain range, or Anti-Lebanon (Lubnan ash Sharqi), is almost equal in length and height to the Lebanon Mountains. This fourth geographical region falls swiftly from Mount Hermon to the Hawran Plateau, whence it continues through Jordan south to the Dead Sea. The Barada Gorge divides Anti-Lebanon; in the northern section, few villages are on the western slopes, but in the southern section, featuring Mount Hermon (286 metres), the western slopes have many villages. Anti-Lebanon is more arid, especially in its northern parts, than Mount Lebanon and is consequently less productive and more thinly populated.

Rivers and Lakes

Although the country is well watered and there are many rivers and streams, there are no navigable rivers, nor is any one river the sole source of irrigation water. Drainage patterns are determined by geological features and climate. Although rainfall is seasonal, most streams are perennial. Most rivers in Lebanon have their origins in springs, which are often quite large. These springs emerge from the permeable limestone strata cropping out at the 915- to 1,524-meter level in the Lebanon Mountains. In the Anti-Lebanon Mountains few springs emerge in this manner. Other springs emerge from alluvial soil and join to form rivers. Whatever their source, the rivers are fast moving, straight, and generally cascade down narrow mountain canyons to the sea.

The Biqa Valley is watered by two rivers that rise in the watershed near Baalbek: the Orontes flowing north (in Arabic it is called Nahr al Asi, "the Rebel River", because this direction is unusual), and the Litani flowing south into the hill region of the southern Biqa Valley, where it makes an abrupt turn to the west in southern Lebanon and is thereafter called the Al Qasmiyah River. The Orontes continues to flow north into Syria and eventually reaches the Mediterranean in Turkey. Its waters, for much of its course, flow through a channel considerably lower than the surface of the ground. The Nahr Barada, which waters Damascus, has as its source a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

Smaller springs and streams serve as tributaries to the principal rivers. Because the rivers and streams have such steep gradients and are so fast moving, they are erosive instead of depository in nature. This process is aided by the soft character of the limestone that composes much of the mountains, the steep slopes of the mountains, and the heavy rainstorms. The only permanent lake is Buhayrat al Qirawn, about ten kilometres east of Jezzine. There is one seasonal lake, fed by springs, on the eastern slopes of the Lebanon Mountains near Yammunah, about forty kilometres southeast of Tripoli.