Batloun (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: بتلون) is a village in the

Chouf District Chouf (also spelled Shouf, Shuf or Chuf, in ''Jabal ash-Shouf''; french: La Montagne du Chouf) is a historic region of Lebanon, as well as an administrative district in the governorate (muhafazat) of Mount Lebanon. Geography Located south-east o ...

Mount Lebanon Governorate french: Gouvernorat du Mont-Liban , native_name_lang = , image_map = Administrative divisions of Lebanon 2017-08 (Numbered).png , map_caption = The governorates of Lebanon, including Mount Lebanon (in pink, label ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Batloun is located 48 kilometers (30 miles) away from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, the capital of Lebanon. It sits at an altitude of 1250 meters (4101 feet) above sea level and has an overall surface area of 5.5 square kilometers or about 550 hectares (2.1 square miles).

Geography

Batloun is bordered by

Kfar Nabrakh Kfar Nabrakh ( ar, كفر نبرخ ''Kfar Nabrakh'') is a municipality in the Chouf District of Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon. It is located 50 kilometers southeast of Beirut. Kfarnabrakh total land area consists of 941 hectares. Its average ...

in the west, Jisr el Misri in the east, Mazraat El-Chouf in the south and Brih in the north.

Population

Around 4200 to 4500 people live in Batloun, of which 80% are permanent residents.

Government

Batloun has a council with 12 members and a mayor. The council is divided into different committees, managing Work, Education, Culture and Delivery. Marwan Kaiss is mayor of Batloun since May 2016.

Education

There is one public school, the ''Batloun Public Intermediate School''.

Infrastructure

Telephone connections and a sewage disposal system are well established, but the water connections suffer from regular shortages and electricity is being restricted to a certain number of hours per week. In recent years, under major Kaiss, Batloun has been working on renewable energy and aims to become a „green town“ by 2030.

Economy

Batloun has attained regional significance through the agricultural production of

silkworms The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

, apples, peaches, cherries, figs, almonds and grapes, that are sold at the market in

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...

. Other major sources of income are governmental jobs, aluminum manufacturing and metal welding.

References

Populated places in Chouf District {{Lebanon-geo-stub