Hermel District

The Hermel District (Arabic: قضاء الهرمل) is a district in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate of Lebanon. Its population is estimated at 69,997 inhabitants, with its semi-arid land contributing to its low population density. It borders the Akkar District and Miniyeh-Danniyeh District on its west, the Baalbek District in the south and east, and Syria on its north. The capital of the Hermel District is Hermel. On January 3, 2021, an explosion at a fuel storage facility in the town of Al-Qasr injured 10. Under Ottoman administration, the town of Hermel and its surrounding territory belonged to the ''nahiyah'' (subdistrict) of Manasef; tax records from 1519 and 1545 list50 households in the town, all Muslims. The area had been part of Hamade family clan's tax concessions since 1668, and the districts population grew substantially after Hamade-affiliated Shia clans left Mount Lebanon to resettle in and around Hermel. The district is dominated by the Hermel plains, an area of low hills surrounding the town of Hermel through which the Orontes River and several wadis flow, draining into the Homs basin. This area forms the northern end of the Beqaa valley and extends into the Syrian border. Together with Baalbek District, it makes the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, which occupies the northern Beqaa valley, Lebanon's most agricultural significant region.