Jibbain


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

Name

According to 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 Jibbain. At the same time they fired on the house nearest, killing 4 civilians, aged 42 to 81 years of age.