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Akkar District
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>The Akkar area is strategically important as it is the northern gateway into <a href="/facts/Syria/7pDXGzq8">Syria</a>. this is why several castles were built in that area and in Syria. The most notable one is probebly <a href="/facts/Krak_des_Chevaliers/poQnUJh3">Krak des Chevaliers</a> in Syria. During the 19th century the Mir‘abi families of beys and pashas bought many lands in the area, which <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a> found it helpful with their Mandate over Lebanon. Up to the 1958 Syrian land reforms, the local population of Akkar could move freely in and out of Syria.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h3>Peasants revolt</h3> <p>During the 1970s the peasants of Akkar formed an alliance to fight the land owners and the system of which 3% of the population held about 73% of the land. They were led by Khalid Saghiya, a Syrian <a href="/facts/Ba%2527athism/FUdmoruJ">Baathist</a> lawyer from Baynu. Following <a href="/facts/Black_September/ga7jYcgt">Black September</a> in <a href="/facts/Jordan/JC5sS1oJ">Jordan</a>, firearms were accessible to all. A fact that escalated the revolt. The involvement of Syria in the area as well as the diverse population led to many rivalries. Franjieh and the Phalange were rivals. Peasant laborers clashed with landlords, while Jurd clans, though occasionally in conflict with one another, had formed an alliance against the beys. Eventually the discovery of oil in the <a href="/facts/Persian_Gulf/W78AfnC1">gulf</a> led to mass immigration, sparing the region and its population from the fate that came to many other parts of Lebanon.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="geography">Geography</h2> <p>Akkar is divided into the following regions: </p> <ul><li>Al-Jouma: represents multiple villages connected to each other by a network of roads, and is located around fertile land that enable it to adopt greenhouse and fruit crops.</li> <li>Najd Akkar: It is divided into three sub-regions according to the geographical situation that makes the crops change according to the height and irrigation: Al-Shafat, Al-Dreib Al-Awsat, Al-Dreib Al-A'la</li> <li>The plateaus where the al-Qayt'a region is.</li> <li>Jarad Akkar: It occupies an area in the east of the entire region, starting from the borders of the Akkar governorate to Abu Musa River in the south to the Syrian border in the north, and it consists of the following villages.</li> <li>The plain: in itself it is the source of agricultural wealth, where its inhabitants live from the land, and 6% of the properties include half of the lands.</li></ul> <h2 id="demographics">Demographics</h2> <p>According to registered voters in 2014: </p> <table><tbody><tr><th rowspan="2">Year</th><th colspan="5"><a href="/facts/Christianity_in_Lebanon/4owYQaRo">Christians</a></th><th colspan="4"><a href="/facts/Islam_in_Lebanon/zAQPHHjU">Muslims</a></th><th colspan="1"><a href="/facts/Druze_in_Lebanon/76FRhhB8">Druze</a></th></tr><tr><th>Total</th><th><a href="/facts/Greek_Orthodox_Patriarchate_of_Antioch/9MlA5S82">Greek Orthodox</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Maronite_Church/RAQFG8ex">Maronites</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Melkite_Greek_Catholic_Church/9sABIqrV">Greek Catholics</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Christianity/nKyJHlqq">Other Christians</a></th><th>Total</th><th><a href="/facts/Sunni_Islam/WYo0zeq0">Sunnis</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Alawites/pETzhrCF">Alawites</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Shia_Islam/JIQl7ooz">Shias</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Druze/HzEnIHJT">Druze</a></th></tr><tr><td>2014<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></td><td>27.55%</td><td>14.24%</td><td>11.47%</td><td>1.28%</td><td>0.56%</td><td>72.26%</td><td>66.23%</td><td>4.86%</td><td>1.17%</td><td>0.01%</td></tr></tbody></table> <p>This region is home to the second-largest population of <a href="/facts/Alawites/pETzhrCF">Alawites</a> in Lebanon. <a href="/facts/Lebanese_Turkmen/eTWJBtTt">Lebanese Turkmen</a> form a majority in <a href="/facts/Kouachra/jjaoUv54">Kouachra</a> and <a href="/facts/Aydamun/RPaYcIfI">Aydamun</a>. </p> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Akkar Governorate Profile". UNHCR. June 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2017. <a href="http://data2.unhcr.org/fr/documents/download/44893" target="_blank">http://data2.unhcr.org/fr/documents/download/44893</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>L. Copeland; P. Wescombe (1966). Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon, pp. 20-21. Impr. Catholique. Retrieved 3 March 2011. <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qhPRQwAACAAJ" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=qhPRQwAACAAJ</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Wetzel, R. & Haller, J., Le Quarternaire de la région de Tripoli. Notes et Mémoires de la Délégation Générale de France au Liban. Section Géologique, No. 4. Beirut, 1945. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Akkar" (PDF). <a href="http://www.cdr.gov.lb/study/CDP_RSA/Akkar.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.cdr.gov.lb/study/CDP_RSA/Akkar.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Ufheil-Somers, Amanda (1990-01-10). "'Akkar Before the Civil War". MERIP. Retrieved 2024-09-29. <a href="https://merip.org/1990/01/akkar-before-the-civil-war/" target="_blank">https://merip.org/1990/01/akkar-before-the-civil-war/</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Ufheil-Somers, Amanda (1990-01-10). "'Akkar Before the Civil War". MERIP. Retrieved 2024-09-29. <a href="https://merip.org/1990/01/akkar-before-the-civil-war/" target="_blank">https://merip.org/1990/01/akkar-before-the-civil-war/</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/الشمال/عكار/المذاهب/ <a href="https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/الشمال/عكار/المذاهب/" target="_blank">https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/الشمال/عكار/المذاهب/</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>