BEIRUT - The Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, to which Syrian troops are to pull back by the end of March, is a lush agricultural area home to the ancient city of Baalbek and a centre of operations for the powerful Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah.
The Bekaa is a 120-kilometer (about 75-mile) long and narrow valley located about 30 kilometers east of Beirut, situated between the Lebanon Mountains to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east.
Syrian troops have been present in the valley since a year after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, when Damascus established a de facto protectorate with its own administration.
In 1982 the Israeli air force tried unsuccessfully to evict the Syrians by bombing Syrian anti-aircraft missile batteries in the valley.
The Bekaa Valley makes up 40 percent of Lebanon's arable land, and is known for its vineyards as well as its farming of hashish and opium.
The largest city in the valley is Zahleh, which lies just north of the main Beirut-to-Damascus highway. Most Zahleh residents are Christian Arabs, in contrast to rural areas where the majority are Shiite Muslims.
The most noted historic site is Baalbek, an ancient city in the north of the valley named for the Canaanite god Baal. It is home to some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in the world, including temples to Bacchus, Jupiter, Venus, and the sun.
Baalbek has been used as a center of operations for Hezbollah, a fundamentalist group which advocates the creation of an Islamic state in Lebanon and which fought Israel's occupation of south Lebanon during the 1990s.
03/08/2005 16:59 GMT