Maroun al-Ras (Arabic: مارون الراس)[1] is a municipality nestled in Jabal Amel (Mount Amel) in the district of Bint Jbeil in the Nabatiye Governorate in southern Lebanon. It is located around 120 km (75 mi) south east of Beirut, roughly one km (0.62 mi) from the border with Israel.
History
Before 2006
In 1596, it was named as a village, Marun er-Ras, in the Ottomannahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 97 Muslim households. The villagers paid a fixed tax of 25% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, vineyards, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and an olive oil press; a total of 8,960 akçe.[2][3]
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it: "A stone village, with some large stones built into walls, containing about 150 Moslems, situated on the top of high hills, with vineyards and arable land; water is obtained from 'Ain Hara, and cisterns in the village."[5] They further noted: "At this village there are a considerable number of well-cut stones and remains, which indicate that there was once a church here similar to that at Yarun; these stones have been mostly found to the west of the village, in vineyards. A capital of a
column, with mediaeval ornamentation, and a small piece of sculptured stone, with leaves and figures as
at Yarun, are in the village. There is also an architrave with a Greek inscription, in three pieces."[6]
In the 1945 statistics the population was counted with Saliha and Yaroun, and totalled 1070 Muslims[7] with 11,735 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey.[8] Of this, 7,401 dunams were allocated to cereals, 422 dunams were irrigated or used for orchards,[9] while 58 dunams were built-up (urban) area.[10]
The village was the scene of the Battle of Maroun al-Ras, a major confrontation between the Israeli Army and Hezbollah fighters during the 2006 Lebanon War. The village is at an elevation of 911 meters (2,989 feet), and is strategically important as it overlooks the surrounding towns. During the battle, the village was partly occupied by Israel, which claimed it was a stronghold for Hezbollah and one of the launching points for rocket attacks on northern Israel. There are reports that control of the village was contested at the time of the ceasefire. After-battle reports claimed the IDF troops never fully secured the border area and that Maroun al-Ras was never fully taken.[11][12]
^Note that Rhode, 1979, p. 6 (Archived 2016-10-10 at the Wayback Machine) writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9
