Aaramta () () is a municipality in the

Jezzine District The Jezzine District () is a district in the South Governorate of Lebanon. The capital is Jezzine. Municipalities The following 56 municipalities are all located in the Jezzine District: * Al-Aaishiyah * Aaramta * Aaray * Aazour * Ain al ...

in southern

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Etymology

Its name comes from Syriac-

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

ܥܪܡܐ (‘arma), feminine counterpart being ܥܪܡܬܐ (‘armta) which means rugged, rough, steep, or high.

History

In the 1596 tax records, it was named as a village, Aramta'', in the Ottoman ''

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...

'' (subdistrict) of Sagif under the ''

liwa' A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

'' (district) of

Safad Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortified town in the Upper Gal ...

, with a population of 14 households, all

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 1,355

akçe The ''akçe'' or ''akça'' (anglicized as ''akche'', ''akcheh'' or ''aqcha''; ; , , in Europe known as '' asper'') was a silver coin mainly known for being the chief monetary unit of the Ottoman Empire. It was also used in other states includi ...

.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 186 On 14 April 1994 three SLA militiamen were killed by a landmine near the village. In response the SLA shelled

Sidon Sidon ( ) or better known as Saida ( ; ) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast in the South Governorate, Lebanon, South Governorate, of which it is the capital. Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre, t ...

killing three civilians. Two days later the SLA attacked Aaramta killing two people and expelling the villagers to

Jezzine Jezzine ( ''Jizzīn'') is a municipality in Lebanon, located from Sidon and south of Beirut. It is the capital of Jezzine District. Surrounded by mountain peaks, pine forests (like the Bkassine Pine Forest), and at an average altitude of 95 ...

. Five SLA men had been killed the same day near Jezzine. In May 2023,

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

's Redwan Force conducted training exercises near the village, as part of a media tour aimed at showcasing the organization's military prowess. These drills encompassed various demonstrations, such as drone displays that featured flags, hand-to-hand combat, explosive exercises, and simulations of cross-border incursions into Israel.

Demographics

In 2014,

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

made up 97.94% of registered voters in Aaramta. 95.27% of the voters were Shiite Muslims.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Aaramta
Localiban {{Jezzine District Populated places in Jezzine District Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon