Yohmor, Beqaa Explained

Official Name:Yohmor
Native Name:يحمر
Settlement Type:City
Pushpin Map:Lebanon
Pushpin Label Position:bottom
Pushpin Mapsize:300
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Lebanon
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:Governorate
Subdivision Name1:Beqaa Governorate
Subdivision Type2:District
Subdivision Name2:Western Beqaa District
Unit Pref:Imperial
Population Blank1 Title:Ethnicities
Population Blank2 Title:Religions
Coordinates:33.4858°N 35.6697°W
Elevation M:940

Yohmor or Yohmor al Beqaa (Arabic: يحمر (البقاع الغربي) ) is a large village in the Beka'a Valley of Lebanon, situated in the Western Beqaa District in the south of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies south of Sohmor.The main source of income comes from olive cultivation.

History

In 1838, Eli Smith noted Yahmur as a village on the West side of the Beqaa Valley.[1]

On 15 April 1996, during the seventeen day bombardment of south Lebanon by the Israeli army and air force, the hydroelectric power station on the Litani River, one kilometre north-east of Yohmor, was destroyed in an air raid.[2]

A HRW report published in 2011 described Yohmor as having a population of 7,500, consisting of around 400 families. 60% of the workforce where involved in agriculture. 150 families made their living growing tobacco.On 12 August 2006, two days before the end of the Israeli attack on Lebanon, Yohmor was blitzed by the IDF with 155mm artillery and air strikes. Thousands of cluster bombs landed on the village. Most of the inhabitants had fled the war zone and only twenty families remained. Unexploded bomblets littered the roads, gardens, on roofs and inside houses. Investigators found US made CBU-58[3] and BLU-63[4] bombs as well as missile fragments date stamped 1973. In the following two months, as villagers returned to their homes, one person was killed and five injured by these weapons.[5]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 141
  2. Middle East International No 524, 26 April 1996, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Crisis chronology p.4
  3. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/cbu-58.htm CBU-58
  4. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30019796 BLU-63
  5. Book: Docherty. Bonnie Lynn. Garlasco. Marc E.. Marc Garlasco. (Organization) Human Rights Watch. Flooding South Lebanon: Israel's use of cluster munitions in Lebanon in July and August 2006. 23 April 2011. 2008. Human Rights Watch. 70. GGKEY:8D91263GN9Z.