Akkar District ( ar, قضاء عكار) is the only district in Akkar Governorate,

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

. It is coextensive with the governorate and covers an area of . The

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

estimated the population of the district to be 389,899 in 2015, including 106,935 registered refugees of the Syrian Civil War and 19,404

Palestinian refugees Palestinian refugees are citizens of Mandatory Palestine, and their descendants, who fled or were expelled from their country over the course of the 1947–49 Palestine war (1948 Palestinian exodus) and the Six-Day War ( 1967 Palestinian exodu ...

. The capital is at Halba. The district is characterized by the presence of a relatively large

coastal plain A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...

, with high mountains to the east. The largest cities in Akkar are Halba,

Bire Akkar Bire Akkar ( ar, (بيرة (عكار)) ) is a small town in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, close to the border with Syria. The population in Bire Akkar is mainly Sunni Muslims. History In 1838, Eli Smith noted the village, whose inhabitants ...

and

Al-Qoubaiyat Al Qoubaiyat, Koubeiyat, Kobayat or Qoubayat ( ar, ٱلْقُبَيَّات) is the biggest Christian village in the Akkar Governorate, Lebanon. Its population is mostly composed of Maronites numbering around 12,000 persons according to the civil ...

. Akkar has many important Roman and Arabic archaeological sites. One of the most famous archaeological sites and the birthplace of the Roman emperor

Severus Alexander Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – 21/22 March 235) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 222 until 235. He was the last emperor from the Severan dynasty. He succeeded his slain cousin Elagabalus in 222. Alexander himself wa ...

(d.235) is the Tell of

Arqa Arqa ( ar, عرقا; akk, 𒅕𒋡𒋫, translit=Irqata) is a Lebanese village near Miniara in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon, 22 km northeast of Tripoli, near the coast. The town was a notable city-state during the Iron Age. The city of ...

near the town of Miniara. Several prehistoric sites were found in the Akkar plain foothills that were suggested to have been used by the

Heavy Neolithic Heavy Neolithic (alternatively, Gigantolithic) is a style of large stone and flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with the Qaraoun culture in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon, dating to the Epipaleolithic or early Pre-Pottery Neolithic at t ...

Qaraoun culture The Qaraoun culture is a culture of the Lebanese Stone Age around Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley. The Gigantolithic or Heavy Neolithic flint tool industry of this culture was recognized as a particular Neolithic variant of the Lebanese highlands ...

at the dawn of the

Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution, or the (First) Agricultural Revolution, was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures during the Neolithic period from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, making an inc ...

. Akkar can be divided into 7 parts: Qaitea (القيطع), Jouma (الجومة), Dreib (الدريب), Jabal Akroum (جبل أكروم), Wadi Khaled (وادي خالد), Cheft (الشفت) and As-Sahel (السهل).

History

2021 Akkar explosion killed dozens of people.

Geography

Akkar is divided into the following regions: * 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. * 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 * The plateaus where the al-Qayt'a region is. * 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. * 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.

Demographics

The majority of the residents in the Akkar District is composed by a majority of

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

s, followed by a large minority of

Greek Orthodox Christians The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

Maronites The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the lar ...

are the second largest

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

denomination, and have typically lived around the city of Al-Qoubaiyat. Melkite Christians are also present in small numbers in the region. This region is also home to the largest population of

Alawites The Alawis, Alawites ( ar, علوية ''Alawīyah''), or pejoratively Nusayris ( ar, نصيرية ''Nuṣayrīyah'') are an ethnoreligious group that lives primarily in Levant and follows Alawism, a sect of Islam that originated from Shia I ...

in Lebanon.

Turkish people The Turkish people, or simply the Turks ( tr, Türkler), are the world's largest Turkic ethnic group; they speak various dialects of the Turkish language and form a majority in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. In addition, centuries-old ethnic ...

form a majority in Kouachra and Aydamun.

References

{{Akkar District Districts of Lebanon