Shebaa Farms

Shebaa Farms is a strip of land.

It sits on a border. It is near a big mountain.

The land has 14 small farms.

These farms sit on a long ridge. The ridge goes down toward the sea.

People do not agree on who owns it. Lebanon says the land is theirs. Syria agrees with them. Israel says it is part of the Golan Heights.

Long ago, people lived there. They used the land to grow food. Now, the farms are not used.

This place is very important to many lands. It is a place of much talk.

Shebaa Farms is a strip of land on a border.

It sits between Lebanon and Syria. The land is near Mount Hermon. It is also near the village of Shebaa.

The area has 14 small farms. These farms sit on a long ridge. The land goes from 250 to 1,500 meters high.

There is a big argument about this land. Lebanon says the farms belong to them. Syria agrees with Lebanon. Israel says the land is part of the Golan Heights.

This disagreement started a long time ago. In the 1920s, people there paid taxes to Lebanon. But later, Syria ruled the area.

Israel took control of the land in 1967. This was during the Six-Day War. The farms are not used for growing food now. The area is very important for peace. Many groups study maps to find the true border. But the maps from the past are not always the same. This makes the dispute hard to solve.

The Shebaa Farms is a strip of land on the border between Lebanon and Syria.

This area sits on a long ridge that comes down from Mount Hermon. It is located southwest of the Lebanese village of Shebaa. It is also northwest of the Druze village called Majdal Shams. The land contains 14 different farms. These farms sit at heights between 250 and 1,500 meters.

Because it is high up, the area looks over parts of southern Lebanon and Israel.

There is a big disagreement about who owns this land. Lebanon says the farms belong to them. Syria also agrees with Lebanon. However, Israel says the area is part of the Golan Heights. Israel has held this land since the Six-Day War in 1967. In 1981, Israel applied its own laws to the region. This move was not recognized by the international community.

This dispute makes relations between Israel and Lebanon very difficult.

The trouble began because the border was never clearly marked. Long ago, the French Mandate ruled the area. They did not set a clear line between Lebanon and Syria. In the 1920s and 1930s, some people there paid taxes to Lebanon.

Later, Syria began to rule the land. Even a committee in the 1960s suggested the land belonged to Lebanon. But no one ever made the suggestion official. This left the maps looking different for many years.

Many groups have tried to help solve the problem. The United Nations has looked at many different maps. One report in 2007 tried to define the exact edges of the farms. The area's edges follow things like the Wadi al-Asal valley.

The UN found no proof that the farms were definitely Lebanese. Still, they suggested keeping the existing boundaries for now. They hope that Syria and Lebanon will make an agreement one day.

Today, the area remains a place of tension. Since Israel left southern Lebanon in May 2000, there has been conflict. Some groups say the withdrawal was not finished because of the farms. Small fights have happened in the area during many different years. For example, there was conflict between 2000 and 2006. In 2024, a truck driver was killed during work in the area. The history of these farms shows how hard it is to draw a line on a map.

The Shebaa Farms is a small strip of land located on the border between Lebanon and Syria.

This territory is currently occupied by Israel. It is a site of major political and military tension. The dispute over this land shapes the modern relationship between Israel and Lebanon. Because of this conflict, the area remains a sensitive flashpoint. Many different groups have different views on who should control it.

The geography of the area is defined by its high elevation and rugged terrain. The farms sit on the southeastern side of a broad ridge. This ridge descends toward the southwest from the massive Mount Hermon. The land contains 14 individual farms. These farms cover about 5,400 acres. The elevation in the region ranges from 250 to 1,500 meters.

Because of these heights, the area overlooks parts of southern Lebanon and Israel.

Several natural and man-made features mark the boundaries of the farms. The northwestern edge follows the international Lebanese–Syrian border along the ridge. The southeastern edge follows Wadi al-Asal, which is a 16 km long wadi. This valley drains part of the precipitation-rich Hermon ridge. The northeastern limit is located 2.5 km east of the Har Dov military camp. The southwestern limit follows the foot of the ridge. It starts about one kilometer northwest of Banias. This line runs northwest toward a sharp turning point in the border. This point is 3.4 km east of Ghajar and 1.0 km south of El Majidiye.

The root of the dispute lies in a lack of clear borders. During the French Mandate, administrators did not formally mark the line between Lebanon and Syria.

Documents from the 1920s and 1930s show that some inhabitants paid taxes to Lebanon. However, the land was later administered by Syria. In the 1960s, a joint border committee suggested the area should belong to Lebanon. This suggestion was never officially adopted by the governments. Consequently, maps from that era often showed the area as part of Syria.

Military history changed the status of the farms in 1967. During the Six-Day War, Israel captured the Golan Heights. At that time, the Shebaa Farms were considered part of Syrian territory. In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law to annex the region. This move extended Israeli law and administration to the area. However, the United Nations Security Council declared this annexation null and void. They stated it had no international legal effect through Resolution 497.

Since the year 2000, the area has seen continued conflict. Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000. The United Nations certified that this withdrawal was complete. However, Hezbollah argued the withdrawal was not finished. They claimed the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese territory, not Syrian. This claim has been used to justify continued hostilities. Low-level conflicts occurred between 2000 and 2006, and again in early 2015. In April 2024, an Israeli truck driver was killed during work at Har Dov due to a missile strike.

The United Nations has attempted to clarify the situation through mapping. In 2007, a UN report released a definition of the physical extent of the farms. This was based on work by cartographer Miklos Pinther.

The UN concluded there was no evidence that the farmlands were definitely Lebanese. Despite this, the UN proposed maintaining existing boundaries. They did this without prejudice to future agreements between Syria and Lebanon.

The goal is to allow for a future negotiated border between the two nations.