Al-Jibbain

Al-Jibbain is a municipality in Southern Lebanon, located in Tyre District, Governorate of South Lebanon.

Etymology

According to Edward [Henry Palmer|E. H. Palmer], the name means "the two pits".

History

In 1596, it was named as a village, Jibin, in the Ottoman nahiya of Tibnin under the liwa' of Safad, with a population of 7 households, all Muslim. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, goats, beehives; in addition to occasional revenues and a press for olive oil or grape syrup; a total of 2,177 akçe.
In 1875, Victor Guérin noted here "a few Metawileh families", who inhabited an ancient locality.
In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine described it: "A small village, built of stone, containing about seventy Metawileh; it is situated on a hill, with figs, olives, and arable land around. There are three cisterns for water." They further noted a ruined, rock-cut birket.

Modern era

On August 3 or 4, 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War, Israeli helicopter strikes killed 4 Hezbollah operatives in an uninhabited valley some 900 meters from Al-Jibbain. At the same time, they fired on the house nearest, killing 4 civilians, aged 42 to 81 years of age.

Demographics

In 2014 Muslims made up 99.78% of registered voters in Al-Jibbain. 98.90% of the voters were Shiite Muslims.