Bekaa, the

Valley in central Lebanon, situated between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges; length 130 km/80 mi, width 20 km/12 mi. It is also a governorate (estimated population in 2002: 516,900), its main population centres being the city of Zahle and the ancient town of Baalbek. The Orontes and Litani rivers rise in the Bekaa. The southern part of the valley is particularly fertile with significant production of wheat, maize, cotton, fruit, and, in recent years, hashish and opium. Of strategic importance, the Bekaa was occupied by Syrian troops following the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in the mid-1970s and has been a centre of operations for the radical Islamic Hezbollah organization.

The Bekaa Valley is called Hamath in the Old Testament.