Akkar District Explained

Akkar District (ar|قضاء عكار) is the only district in Akkar Governorate, Lebanon. It is coextensive with the governorate and covers an area of 788km2. The UNHCR estimated the population of the district to be 389,899 in 2015, including 106,935 registered refugees of the Syrian Civil War and 19,404 Palestinian refugees.^[2] The capital is at Halba.

The district is characterized by the presence of a relatively large coastal plain, with high mountains to the east. The largest cities in Akkar are Halba, Bire Akkar and Al-Qoubaiyat.

Akkar has many important Roman and Arabic archaeological sites. One of the most famous archaeological sites and the birthplace of the Roman emperor Severus Alexander (d.235) is the Tell of Arqa near the town of Miniara. Several prehistoric sites were found in the Akkar plain foothills that were suggested to have been used by the Heavy Neolithic Qaraoun culture at the dawn of the Neolithic Revolution.^{[3] [4]}

Akkar can be divided into seven parts: Qaitea (القيطع), Jouma (الجومة), Dreib (الدريب), Jabal Akroum (جبل أكروم), Wadi Khaled (وادي خالد), Cheft (الشفت) and As-Sahel (السهل).^[5]

History

The Akkar governate is strategically important as it is the northern gateway into Syria. Explaining the exercising of political and military influence by the "Al Merehb/ﺁل مرعب" family of sharifian lineage which ruled the territory of Akkar, even extending it's homeland to [Tripoli] and [Hama, Syria] till the end of the [Ottoman Empire] since their arrival in the early 18th century.

During the 1970s the peasants of Akkar formed an alliance to fight the land owners and the system of which 3% of the population held about 73% of the land. They were led by Khalid Saghiya, a Syrian Baathist lawyer from Baynu. Following Black September in Jordan, firearms were accessible to all. A fact that escalated the revolt. The involvement of Syria in the area as well as the diverse population led to many rivalries. Franjieh and the Phalange were rivals. Peasant laborers clashed with landlords, while Jurd clans, though occasionally in conflict with one another, had formed an alliance against the beys. Eventually the discovery of oil in the gulf led to mass immigration, sparing the region and its population from the fate that came to many other parts of Lebanon.^[6]

Geography

Akkar is divided into the following regions:

• Al-Jouma: represents multiple villages connected to each other by a network of roads, and is located around fertile land that enable it to adopt greenhouse and fruit crops.
• Najd Akkar: It is divided into three sub-regions according to the geographical situation that makes the crops change according to the height and irrigation: Al-Shafat, Al-Dreib Al-Awsat, Al-Dreib Al-A'la
• The plateaus where the al-Qayt'a region is.
• Jarad Akkar: It occupies an area in the east of the entire region, starting from the borders of the Akkar governorate to Abu Musa River in the south to the Syrian border in the north, and it consists of the following villages.
• The plain: in itself it is the source of agricultural wealth, where its inhabitants live from the land, and 6% of the properties include half of the lands.

Demographics

According to registered voters in 2014, 2022 and 2026:

This region is home to the second-largest population of Alawites in Lebanon. Lebanese Turks form a majority in Kouachra and Aydamun.

Number of registered voters (21+ years old) over the years.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Brinkhoff . Thomas . Lebanon: Administrative Division . City Population . 2 March 2019 . 3 July 2021.
2. Web site: Akkar Governorate Profile . . June 2015 . 19 February 2017.
3. Book: L. Copeland. P. Wescombe. Inventory of Stone-Age Sites in Lebanon: North, South and East-Central Lebanon, pp. 20-21. 3 March 2011. 1966. Impr. Catholique.
4. Wetzel, R. & Haller, J., Le Quarternaire de la région de Tripoli. Notes et Mémoires de la Délégation Générale de France au Liban. Section Géologique, No. 4. Beirut, 1945.
5. Web site: Akkar. 2025-10-16. 2018-12-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20181222185841/http://www.cdr.gov.lb/study/CDP_RSA/Akkar.pdf. bot: unknown.
6. Web site: Ufheil-Somers . Amanda . 1990-01-10 . 'Akkar Before the Civil War . 2024-09-29 . MERIP . en-US.
7. Web site: التوزيع حسب المذاهب للناخبين/ناخبات في قضاء عكار، محافظة الشمال في لبنان . 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20241202172323/https://lub-anan.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B8%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84/%D8%B9%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B0%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%A8/ . 2024-12-02 . 2025-11-05 . lub-anan.com . Arabic.
8. Web site: Critical study in proportional election law . 2018 . live. 2018-06-15 . Lebanonfiles.com (in Arabic) . english.
9. Web site: Mapping Lebanon: Data and statistics . 2022 . live. 2022-10-05 . today.lorientlejour.com (in English) . english.
10. Web site: Statify Lebanon. 2022 . live. 2022-10-05 . statisticslebanon.lb (in English) . english.