Shebaa ( Arabic : شبعا , French : Chebaa ) is a town on the south-eastern tip of Lebanon . It has a largely Sunni Muslim population of 25,000 people. It is situated at an altitude of approximately 1,700 m (5,600 ft) above sea level, spreading across two steep rocky mountainsides. It lies adjacent to the contested Shebaa farms —which sit between the town and the Golan Heights . Before 1967, residents of Shebaa farmed in the disputed Shebaa farms territory.
5-488: In 1838, Eli Smith noted Shebaa's population as being Sunni Muslim and Greek Orthodox Christians . Following the 1982 Lebanon War , Shebaa became part of Israel’s security zone with Norwegian soldiers from UNIFIL stationed in the area. On one night in late January 1989, the Israeli backed SLA expelled 40 villagers, ordering them not to return. This brought the total over a period of several months to around 80. In
10-570: The Holy Land in 1838 and 1852, acting as an interpreter for Robinson in his quest to identify and record biblical place names in Palestine, which was subsequently published in Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine . He is known for bringing the first printing press with Arabic type to Syria . He went on to pursue the task which he considered to be his life's work: translation of
15-658: The Bible into Arabic. Although he died before completing the task, the work was completed by C. V. Van Dyck of the Syrian Mission and published in 1860 to 1865. Smith married three times. His first wife was Sarah Lanman Huntington Smith , who was also a missionary. She died in 1836. He then married Maria Ward Chapin, who died in 1842. He married Mehitable (Hetty) Simkins (Butler) Smith on October 7, 1846, in Northampton, Massachusetts . His daughter Mary Elizabeth Smith
20-910: The voters were Sunni Muslims . The Christian population is mostly Greek Orthodox . Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut , to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1826. He worked in Malta until 1829, then in company with H. G. O. Dwight traveled through Armenia and Georgia to Persia . They published their observations, Missionary Researches in Armenia , in 1833 in two volumes. Smith settled in Beirut in 1833. Along with Edward Robinson , he made two trips to
25-582: The words of the UNIFIL spokesperson those expelled were “mostly women and children”. There was outrage when a Norwegian colonel compared IDF actions to those of the Nazis . Israel withdrew from South Lebanon, including the town of Shebaa, in 2000. As of 2015, the town housed several thousand Syrian refugees . In 2014 Muslims made up 96.96% and Christians made up 2.89% of registered voters in Shebaa. 92.99% of
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