Yohmor or Yohmor al Beqaa () is a large village in the Beka'a Valley of

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, situated in the

Western Beqaa District Western Beqaa District () is an administrative district in the Beqaa Governorate of the Republic of Lebanon. The capital is Joub Jannine which has a population of 12,000. Most of the residents of the district are Sunni Muslims, with a Christian ...

in the south of the

Beqaa Governorate Beqaa ( ') is a governorate in Lebanon and one of the eight districts of the country. It is located in the eastern part of Lebanon and borders with Syria. The capital of the district is the city of Zahlé. Districts Since 2014, Beqaa Governorate ...

. It lies south of

Sohmor Sohmor () is a small town in the Beka'a Valley of Lebanon, situated in the Western Beqaa District and south of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies south of Lake Qaraoun on the Litani River. It lies southwest of Machgara, northeast of Ain Et Tine, ...

. The main source of income comes from olive cultivation.

History

In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (September 13, 1801 – January 11, 1857) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. Biography Smith was born in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (née Whitney) Smith. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from A ...

noted ''Yahmur'' as a village on the West side of the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

. On 15 April 1996, during the seventeen day bombardment of south Lebanon by the

Israeli army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

and

air force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, the hydroelectric power station on the

Litani River The Litani River (), the classical Leontes (), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding in length, the ...

, one kilometre north-east of Yohmor, was destroyed in an air raid. A

HRW Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including war crimes, crimes against ...

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 The 155 mm calibre is widely used for artillery guns. Land warfare Historic calibres France - 1874 The caliber originated in France after the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). A French artillery committee met on 2 February 1874 to dis ...

artillery and air strikes. Thousands of

cluster bombs A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy veh ...

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 and BLU-63BLU-63
/ref> 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.

References

Bibliography

External links

Localiban Populated places in Western Beqaa District {{Lebanon-geo-stub