Chiyah () is situated in the west region of the Lebanese

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

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 ...

and is part of

Greater Beirut Greater Beirut ( ar, بيروت الكبرى; french: Grand Beyrouth) is the urban agglomeration comprising the city of Beirut ( Beirut Governorate) and the adjacent municipalities over the Mount Lebanon Governorate. It does not constitute a sin ...

Location

Chiyah is located in the southwest suburbs of the capital

, bordered by

Haret Hreik Haret Hreik ( ar, حارة حريك) is a mixed Shia and Maronite Christian municipality, in the Dahieh suburbs, south of Beirut, Lebanon. It is part of the Baabda District. Once an agricultural village, Haret Hreik lost its rural identity due to ...

Ghobeiry Ghobeiry ( ar, غبيري; also spelled ''Ghbayreh'' or ''Ghabariyeh'') is a municipality in the Baabda District of Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon. The inhabitants of Ghobeiry are predominantly Shia Muslims. In May 1988 following three week ...

Hadath Al-Ḥadath al-Ḥamrā' (Arabic for "Hadath the Red") or Adata ( el, ) was a town and fortress near the Taurus Mountains (modern southeastern Turkey), which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab Wars. Location The town was located ...

Hazmiyeh Hazmieh (also Romanized as Hazmiyé, Hazmie, Hasmiyeh, Al Ḩāzimīyah, and El Hâzmîyé) is a town in Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon, and a suburb of Beirut, part of Greater Beirut. Geography Hazmieh covers an area of 2.73 square kilome ...

, Furn-el-chebbak and

Ain El Remmaneh Ain El Remmaneh (Arabic: عين الرمانة, lit. spring of the pomegranate) is a Christian neighborhood, in the Baabda district of Mount Lebanon, Lebanon, a suburb of Beirut and part of Greater Beirut. History and war In the 1950s, the p ...

. However, before 1956, it used to cover a larger area that included the current districts of Karm el Zeitoun, Hayy el Knissé, Bir Abed and Haret el Mjadlé, as well as Jnah, Ghobeiry, Furn-el-chebbak, Bir Hassan and Ain El Remanneh. The meaning of its name is vague, and many suppositions were found, with one saying that it means the processing of metal (''Shewah''). Another theory is the

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 ...

origin of the name means a kind of tree that is used for

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

production (a flourishing industry in this former village). The city was once covered with citrus orchards and extending to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. Today, it is a full part of the demographically huge

outskirts totalling around 60,000 inhabitants.

Demographics

Historically, Chiyah was a predominantly

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

town, but it became partly inhabited by

Shia Muslim Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most ...

s. The major surnames or families in Chiyah are Rahme, Mahmoud, Nasr, Srouji, Maarouf, Kassem, Kanj, Farraj, Sous, and El-Khatib.

History

During the Ottoman period, Chiyah used to be ruled by the

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

Arslan family, but later it was passed on to the

Shihab dynasty The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...

. In May 1988 following three weeks of intense

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

between

Amal Amal may refer to: * Amal (given name) * Åmål, a small town in Sweden * Amal Movement, a Lebanese political party ** Amal Militia, Amal Movement's defunct militia * Amal language of Papua New Guinea * Amal (film), ''Amal'' (film), 2007, directed ...

and

Hizbullah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramili ...

, Ghobeiry and

Chiyah Chiyah () is situated in the west region of the Lebanese capital of Beirut and is part of Greater Beirut. Location Chiyah is located in the southwest suburbs of the capital Beirut, bordered by Haret Hreik, Ghobeiry, Hadath, Hazmiyeh, Furn-el-c ...

were the only districts of Beirut that Amal was able to retain control of, the rest of Southern Beirut coming under Hizbullah control. On 21 December 1994 a car bomb in Chyah killed Fuad Mughniyeh, one brother of Hizbullah commander

Imad Mughniyeh Imad Fayez Mughniyeh ( ar, عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), alias al-Hajj Radwan (), was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about ...

. Two other people were killed in the explosion and sixteen wounded.Middle East International No 491, 6 January 1995; Gerald Butt p.14 The current head of the municipality is parliament member hopeful Edmond Gharios. Roland Rahal headed the municipality for the time of the parliamentary elections. Naji Gharios, a native of Chiyah, was elected in June 2009 as member of the Lebanese Parliament representing the Baabda district.

External links

Chiyah
Localiban

References

Greater Beirut Populated places in Baabda District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon Shia Muslim communities in Lebanon {{lebanon-geo-stub

Location

Demographics

History

See also

External links

References