Litani
| Litani | ||
 The Litani River is marked in red |
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| Data | ||
| location | in Lebanon | |
| River system | Litani | |
| source | on the Bekaa plain west of Baalbek | |
| muzzle | north of Tire in the Mediterranean Coordinates: 33 ° 20 ′ 20 " N , 35 ° 14 ′ 43" E 33 ° 20 ′ 20 " N , 35 ° 14 ′ 43" E
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| length | 140 km | |
| Catchment area | 2290 km² | |
| Drain |
MQ |
29.179 m³ / s |
 Litani near the Israeli border |
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The litani ( Arabic نهر الليطاني Nahr al-Līṭānī ) is a river in southern and southeastern Lebanon . At 140 km it is the longest river that runs its entire length within Lebanon. The river was known to the Romans as Leontes .
geography
The Litani rises on the Bekaa plain west of Baalbek and flows through it in a southerly direction. At Nabatea the Litani swings west and is from now on called the Qasmiyya River . In this area it flows through a gorge up to 275 m deep for 30 km . After stepping out of the mountains, it flows through the hill country of the Jabal Amel region towards the Mediterranean , into which it flows north of Tire . Its catchment area covers approx. 2290 km².
The river forms the geographical border between the Upper Galilee in the south and the Lebanon Mountains on its north bank.
The Leontes Bridge , a Roman segment arch bridge , crosses the river 10 km north of Tire in the area of Nahr Abou Assouad.
use
The Litani is used economically for power generation , water supply and irrigation . For this purpose, a dam was built near Qarun in the 1950s . The water is supplied to Beirut through tunnels and pumping stations . It is estimated that the river has a long-term average of 920 million m 3 of water per year.
The water in the Litani is of high quality. The salt content is around 20 ppm (parts per million), the water of the Sea of Galilee, for example, has a significantly higher salt content : 250-350 ppm.
Significance of the litani in the Middle East conflict
The supply of water is of crucial importance for the Middle East conflict . Both Israel, including the Palestinian Territories, and Lebanon cannot fully meet their water needs. The Lebanese side claims that this is why Israel is thirsting for the water of the Litani, and has therefore sought a reason for the conquest of the Golan Heights in 1967 and the Lebanon War in 1982 . The claim that Israel has already tapped the waters of the Litani by drilling underground tunnels has not yet been proven.
In connection with the military situation in the Middle East conflict, the Litani was viewed by Israel as a border. B. would be assessed as a serious threat to their own security by Syrian troops. As part of Operation Litani in 1978 and during the Lebanon War from 1982 to 1985, the area south of the river was occupied by Israeli troops.
supporting documents
- ↑ Hussein A. Amery: The Litani River of Lebanon Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Geographical Review . 83, No. 8, August, p. 229 ff. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
Remarks
- ↑ The Orontes , which rises also in the Bekaa plain only about 30 km from the source of the Litani, is overall longer, but flows through Syria and finally flows into Turkey
literature
- Hussein A. Amery: The Litani River of Lebanon. In: The Geographical Review, Vol. 83, No. July 3, 1993
- Arnon Soffer: The Litani River: Fact and Fiction. In: Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4, October 1994, pp. 963-974
- Thomas R. Stauffer: Water and War in the Middle East: The Hydraulic Parameters of Conflict . Information Paper Number 5. (Washington, DC: The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, July 1996), 8, 10.
- A Strategy for Managing Water in the Middle East and North Africa. The World Bank, Washington (DC) 1994