The Tripoli railway station is located in El-Mina, Tripoli, Lebanon. It began operating in 1911 and was connected to the Syrian city, Homs, with a single track. It formed the terminus of the Orient Express line in the twenties, thirties and forties of the last century. Tripoli station was connected to the central station of Beirut (Mar Mikael) in 1945.
During World War I, the Ottomans, and for military reasons, damaged the Tripoli/Homs line. Ruined, the station was nationalized in 1920 at the time of the French mandate in Lebanon and Syria. In 1943, after independence, the station became the property of the Lebanese state.
In 1975, the station was abandoned and now contains a number of multipurpose buildings. These buildings were severely damaged during the civil war (1975–1991). A series of ancient multi-purpose wagons, two German G7 class locomotives made in 1895, and four German G8 locomotives, made in 1901 and 1906 remain on the site. The traces of war are visible on the vehicles. In June 2011, the station [1] reopened its doors to visitors for two days only. [1]
Homs, known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa, is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres (1,644 ft) above sea level and is located 162 kilometres (101 mi) north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast.
The Hejaz railway was a narrow-gauge railway that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of modern day Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea. The project was ordered by the Ottoman sultan in March 1900.
Tripoli is the largest and most important city in northern Lebanon and the second-largest city in the country. Situated 81 km (50 mi) north of the capital Beirut, it is the capital of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District. Tripoli overlooks the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and it is the northernmost seaport in Lebanon. The city is predominantly inhabited by Sunni Muslims, with smaller populations of Alawites and Christians, including Maronites and Armenians among others.
Krak des Chevaliers is a medieval castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by Kurdish troops garrisoned there by the Mirdasids. In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the order of the Knights Hospitaller. It remained occupied by them until it was reconquered by the Muslims in 1271.
Jounieh is a coastal city in Keserwan District, about 16 km (10 mi) north of Beirut, Lebanon. Since 2017, it has been the capital of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate. Jounieh is known for its seaside resorts and bustling nightlife, as well as its old stone souk, ferry port, paragliding site and gondola lift, which takes passengers up the mountain to the shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.
The Syria–Lebanon campaign, also known as Operation Exporter, was the invasion of Syria and Lebanon in June and July 1941 by British Empire forces, during the Second World War.
The Green Line was a line of demarcation in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990. It separated the mainly Muslim factions in predominantly Muslim West Beirut from the predominantly Christian East Beirut controlled by the Lebanese Front. However, as the Civil War continued, it also came to separate Sunni from Shia. At the beginning of the Civil War, the division was not absolute as some Muslims lived East of the Green Line and some Christians lived in West Beirut; but, as the Civil War continued, each sector became more homogeneous as minorities left the sector they were in. The appellation refers to the coloration of the foliage that grew because the space was uninhabited. While most commonly referred to as the "Green Line", it was also sometimes called the "Demarcation Line". It generally stretched from the North of Beirut to the South, and the primary street that followed the Green Line was Damascus Street. There was no formal line or continual security but it was common to see militia checkpoints that people crossing at particular points had to go through and snipers on top of buildings were common. Many of the buildings along the Green Line were severely damaged or destroyed during the war. Since the end of hostilities, however, many of the buildings have been rebuilt within the framework of the urban renewal project of Solidere in Centre Ville (Downtown).
Rayaq - Haouch Hala, also romanized Rayak, is a Lebanese town in the Beqaa Governorate near the city of Zahlé. In the early 20th century and up to 1975 and the outbreak of the civil war, it was Lebanon's most important railway center, where the 1.05-m Beirut–Damascus line met the standard-gauge line north to Baalbek, Homs, and Aleppo. It now has an air base and a hospital. Rayak Air Base was bombed by the Israeli Air Force during the 2006 Lebanon War. The landing strip was severely damaged as a result.
The Kirkuk–Baniyas pipeline is a currently defunct crude oil pipeline from the Kirkuk oil field in Iraq to the Syrian port of Baniyas. The pipeline went into operation in April 1952 and was formally opened in November.
Rail transport in Lebanon began in the 1890s as French projects under the Ottoman Empire but largely ceased in the 1970s owing to the country's civil war. The last remaining routes ended for economic reasons in the 1990s. At its peak Lebanon had about 408 kilometres (254 mi) of railway.
Palestine Railways was a government-owned railway company that ran all public railways in the League of Nations mandate territory of Palestine from 1920 until 1948. Its main line linked El Kantara in Egypt with Haifa. Branches served Jaffa, Jerusalem, Acre and the Jezreel Valley.
Jal El Dib or Jal Ed Dib is a Lebanese city in the kaza of Matn in the Mount Lebanon Governorate11 kilometers north of the capital city of Beirut.
General Establishment of Syrian Railways is the national railway operator for the state of Syria, subordinate to the Ministry of Transportation. It was established in 1956 and was headquartered in Aleppo. Syria's rail infrastructure has been severely compromised as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country.
The Kirkuk–Haifa oil pipeline was a crude oil pipeline from the oil fields in Kirkuk, located in the former Ottoman vilayet of Mosul in northern Iraq, through Transjordan to Haifa in mandatory Palestine. The pipeline was operational between 1935 and 1948. Its length was about 942 kilometres (585 mi), with a diameter of 12 inches (300 mm), and it took about 10 days for crude oil to travel the full length of the line. The oil arriving in Haifa was distilled in the Haifa refineries, stored in tanks, and then put in tankers for shipment to Europe.
The first of the two battles in al-Qusayr was fought by the Syrian army and Shabiha against the Free Syrian Army in the small city of Al-Qusayr, near Homs, during late winter and spring of 2012.
Aleppo railway station more commonly Gare de Baghdad, is the 2nd oldest railway station in Syria and the main station of the city of Aleppo. It was opened in 1912 as part of the Berlin–Baghdad railway. The first ever trip from the station was towards the town of Jarabulus.
The Battle of Sadad was fought during the Syrian Civil War, in October 2013, when rebel forces attacked the town of Sadad, an Orthodox-Christian Aramean (Syriac) majority town. 46 local men, women, and children were killed by rebel forces during the battle.
The Lebanon–Syria border is 394 km in length and runs from the Mediterranean coast in the north to the tripoint with Israel in the south.
Gibelacar, also known by its original Arabic name Hisn Ibn Akkar or its modern Arabic name Qal'at Akkar, is a fortress in the village of Akkar al-Atiqa in the Akkar Governorate in northern Lebanon. The fortress dates back to the Fatimid era in the early 11th century. It was captured and utilized by the Crusaders in the early 12th century until it was captured and strengthened by the Mamluks in the late 13th century. It became the headquarters of the Sayfa clan, whose members, chief among them Yusuf Pasha, served as the governors and tax farmers of the Tripoli Eyalet and its sanjaks from 1579 through the mid-17th century.
The Riyak Railway Station is a former passenger railway station and railway repair shop, located in Riyak, Lebanon. Riyak was a strategically-located station within the Lebanese railway system; it acted as a railway junction, with the main branch to Syria towards the cities of Homs and Damascus as well as a large repair facility. The station complex had nine buildings, including a hotel, a telecommunications center and a ticket office. Other buildings onsite included a military center, a postal station, the employee lounge and a security building.