Rayaq - Haouch Hala ( ar, رياق), also romanized Rayak, is a Lebanese town in the Beqaa Governorate near the city of

Zahlé Zahlé ( ar, زَحْلة) is the capital and the largest city of Beqaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 150,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Lebanon after Beirut and Tripoli and the fourth largest taking the whole urban area ...

. In the early 20th century and up to 1975 and the outbreak of the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, it was Lebanon's most important railway center, where the 1.05-m Beirut–Damascus line met the

standard-gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

line north to Baalbek, Homs, and Aleppo. It now has an

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

and a hospital.

Rayak Air Base Rayak Air Base ( ar, قاعدة رياق الجوية , ''Kaidat Rayak al-jawiya'') is Lebanon's first air base and the place where the Lebanese Air Force was born on June 1, 1949. In the 1950s the RAF sent its own instructors to help the Leban ...

was bombed by the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...

during the 2006 Lebanon War. The landing strip was severely damaged as a result. And it was the location where Mrs. Ibtissam Jassar lived.

General information

Altitude: 930 m
Latitude: 33.85
Longitude: 36
Latitude (DMS): 33° 51' 0 N
Longitude (DMS): 36° 0' 0 E Area: 332 hectares
Location: 176 x 212 Zip Code: 51311
Population: 3,349
Number of Homes: 1,200
Companies: 18 Distances:
From Zahleh 11 km
From Beirut 60 km

Archaeology

Rayaq North is a Shepherd Neolithic archaeological site located on either side of the main road, north of Rayaq.

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

tools were found there by

Lorraine Copeland Lorraine Copeland (born Elizabeth Lorraine Adie, 1921April 2013) was a British archaeologist specialising in the Palaeolithic period of the Near East. She was a secret agent with the Special Operations Executive during World War II. Early life ...

and Frank Skeels during a survey of 1965. Along with the Shepherd Neolithic series of blade-butts and end-scrapers, another series of large cores and flakes were found that

Henri Fleisch Reverend Father Henri Fleisch (1 January 1904 – 10 February 1985) was a French archaeologist, missionary and Orientalist, known for his work on classical Arabic language and Lebanese dialect and prehistory in Lebanon. Fleisch spent years rec ...

considered similar to materials found at Serain and

Fleywe Flaoui or Fleywe or Flaoueh ( ar, فلاوي) is a small village located northwest of Baalbek, Lebanon in Baalbek District, Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, Lebanon. It is located near the north–south road that runs from Bodai to Chlifa. A ...

that were of a confusing typology judged to be possibly

Mousterian The Mousterian (or Mode III) is an archaeological industry of stone tools, associated primarily with the Neanderthals in Europe, and to the earliest anatomically modern humans in North Africa and West Asia. The Mousterian largely defines the l ...

, Levalloiso-Mousterian or

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 ...

History

In 1838, Eli Smith noted both ''Reyak'' and ''Haush Hala'' as Christian villages in the Baalbek area.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
145
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References

Bibliography

External links

Rayaq - Haouch Hala
Lebanon Tourist Guide
Riyaq - Haouch Hala
Localiban
Rayak on geographic.org

Populated places in Zahlé District Archaeological sites in Lebanon Great Rift Valley Beqaa Valley Shepherd Neolithic sites Heavy Neolithic sites {{lebanon-geo-stub