According to E. H. Palmer, ’Alma means "a coat of mail"; while Shảub means "mountain spurs".[2]
According to Dr. Anis Freyha in his book " A Dictionary of the Names of Towns and Villages in Lebanon" 2nd edition 1985, page 117, he mentions that the root of the name is Semitic (עלם) and could mean "the hidden" or sexual maturity, the same in Phoenicians and Aramaic.
History
In 1875, during the late Ottoman period, Victor Guérin found here a village with 350 inhabitants, mostly Greek catholics, or Maronite.[3]
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it: “A large Christian village, containing about 500 inhabitants. The houses are clean and well built. There are two chapels, and the place seems increasing in size. It is situated on a ridge, with figs, olives, and pomegranates and arable land around.
To the east and north the land is covered with brushwood. There is a spring within reach, and about thirty rock-cut cisterns in the village.”[4]
Since the beginning of the Hamas–Israel war on October 7, 2023, Shia Islamist group Hezbollahhas joined the conflict by launching rocket and drone attacks on the occupied Shebaa farms and Israel from areas in southern Lebanon. As a result, at least 800 residents have fled the village out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire, leaving only about 100 remaining. Israel has conducted retaliatory strikes targeting "Hezbollah infrastructure", which according to the deputy mayor, destroyed several structures in the village.[6]
