al-Chums
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الخمس Al-Chums |
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| Coordinates | 32 ° 39 ′ N , 14 ° 16 ′ E | ||
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| Country | Libya | ||
| al-Murgub | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | LY-MB | ||
| Residents | 202,000 (2009) | ||
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Al-Chums ( Arabic الخمس, also al Khums and, especially in Italian , Homs ) is a city in the Libyan municipality of al-Murgub in the northwest of the country with 202,000 inhabitants (estimate 2009 / census 1984: 38,174).
al-Chums is also the capital of the municipality and is located around 100 km east of the state capital Tripoli 3 km before the ancient city of Leptis Magna in the historical region of Tripolitania . The city was founded in the region from 1553 until the Italo-Turkish War in 1911 during the Turkish rule in the Ottoman Empire .
From the second half of the 19th century, the export of Halfagras became important, which grows in large quantities in North Africa and whose fibers were used for paper and rope production in ship rigging.
Today important branches of business are tuna processing, soap production and export of dates and olive oil. Tourism is also not insignificant. The city is the starting point for a visit to the ancient city of Leptis Magna, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1982 . Several of the city's buildings are still reminiscent of the Turkish era. The city is connected to the main cities on the Libyan coast by the road between Tripoli and Benghazi .