Damour

The city is located in one of the few flat areas of the Lebanese coast. It is built to the north of the river, the ancient Tamyrus,Travels in Palestine and Syria, Volume 1, page 286 By George Robinson which bears its name on a dune overlooking the Mediterranean. It is surrounded by plantations of bananas and vegetable crops. It has an area of {{convert|10.1|km2|abbr=on}}. The Beirut-Tyre Highway separates the plantations. Now dismantled, the track is a stopover.

Damour has a mild mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).{{Weather box

| width = auto

| metric first = Yes

| single line = Yes

| location = Damour

| Jan high C = 13.2

| Feb high C = 14.3

| Mar high C = 16.9

| Apr high C = 20.1

| May high C = 24.1

| Jun high C = 27.3

| Jul high C = 29.5

| Aug high C = 29.7

| Sep high C = 28.0

| Oct high C = 24.8

| Nov high C = 19.8

| Dec high C = 15.3

| Jan mean C = 9.1

| Feb mean C = 9.9

| Mar mean C = 12.4

| Apr mean C = 15.5

| May mean C = 19.5

| Jun mean C = 22.8

| Jul mean C = 25.0

| Aug mean C = 25.2

| Sep mean C = 23.5

| Oct mean C = 20.2

| Nov mean C = 15.1

| Dec mean C = 11.0

| Jan low C = 5.3

| Feb low C = 5.8

| Mar low C = 7.8

| Apr low C = 10.5

| May low C = 14.2

| Jun low C = 17.9

| Jul low C = 20.3

| Aug low C = 20.8

| Sep low C = 19.2

| Oct low C = 15.9

| Nov low C = 10.9

| Dec low C = 7.3

| precipitation colour = Green

| Jan precipitation mm = 125

| Feb precipitation mm = 125

| Mar precipitation mm = 96

| Apr precipitation mm = 48

| May precipitation mm = 20

| Jun precipitation mm = 3

| Jul precipitation mm = 1

| Aug precipitation mm = 1

| Sep precipitation mm = 7

| Oct precipitation mm = 28

| Nov precipitation mm = 66

| Dec precipitation mm = 109

| source = Climate-Data.org (1991-2021){{cite web

|url = https://en.climate-data.org/asia/lebanon/qada-kisrwan/ed-damour-418215/

|title = Climate: Damour

|access-date=May 8, 2025}}

}}

In 2014, Christians made up 95.98% of registered voters in Damour. 84.87% of the voters were Maronite Catholics.https://lub-anan.com/المحافظات/جبل-لبنان/الشوف/الدامور/المذاهب/

There are six churches in Damour, of which Notre-Dame de Damour and St Élias are the biggest. There are also three other chapels, including Sainte Thècle, St Michel, which was the first church in Damour, St Maroun and St Joseph. These six churches are all Maronite Churches. Before the Lebanese Civil War, Damour had another Catholic church, Savior's Church.

Damour, one of the few coastal cities in Lebanon with a sandy beach, is just ten minutes from Beirut. This proximity makes it a popular destination for tourists, particularly water sports enthusiasts. As a result there are several restaurants and cafés located along the beach. There are also a few restaurants along the banks of the Damour river.

File:1941 Prise de Damour.JPG to the north of Beirut.]]

In 1302, after the Mamluks took Arwad Island, on 8 June the same year, the Cypriots landed on the Damour River. A battle took place between the Emir Fakhr al-Din Abdel-Hamid bin Jamaluddin Altnokhi, his brother the Emir Shams al-Din Abdullah accompanied by an army of Muslims against the Cypriot. The battle was won by Crusaders. Fakhr al-Din Emir was killed, while his brother Shams al-Din fell hostage. He was released after five days for a ransom of three thousand dinars tyriens.

In the 19th century, Damour was a flourishing center of the Chouf region. Its plain was then planted with mulberry and had twelve large manufacturing companies. Ten thousand workers and technicians worked in the natural silk industry. The city has a real fascination for the Lebanese worker and attracts the largest majority of the natives in the Sahel region.

During the last centuries, Damour was located on the central axis of fighting and successive wars.

During the civil war that started in 1858, Maronites stood up to the power of the Druze.{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Jessica |title=Beirut, 2nd edition: Includes Baalbek, Byblos, Chouf Mountains, Mount Lebanon |date=2014 |publisher=Bradt Travel Guides Ltd |isbn=978-1-910120-13-2 |edition=2nd |series=Footprint Focus |location=Bath |pages=81}}{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Betty S. |title=A history of the modern Middle East: rulers, rebels, and rogues |date=2015 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-8324-8 |location=Stanford, California |pages=115}} In April 1860, this resulted in violence carried out by Druze forces, leading to the massacre of several thousand Christians, with estimates ranging from 10,000 to 15,000. In addition, churches and monasteries were plundered.{{Citation |last=Heraclides |first=Alexis |title=Intervention in Lebanon and Syria, 1860–61 |date=2015 |work=Humanitarian Intervention in the Long Nineteenth Century |pages=137 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf71b8.12 |access-date=2025-05-21 |series=Setting the Precedent |publisher=Manchester University Press |last2=Dialla |first2=Ada}}

During the nights of the first world war, inhabitants met the armoured French cruiser Jeanne d'Arc sailors and received medicines, food and other needed supplies.

In 1941, Damour was the French administrative capital.{{Cite web |title=Battle of Damour |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84318 |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=www.awm.gov.au |language=en}} The city being a strategic crossing point on the road to Beirut, 21 July 1941, was the place of one of the battles that affected Lebanon during World War II Syria-Lebanon Campaign. Australian troops, progressing towards the North along the coast, took Damour, held by the French Foreign Legion, faithful to the Vichy Government. A cease-fire was concluded at the end of the battle.{{Cite web |title=Syrian Campaign |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E84669 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=www.awm.gov.au |language=en}} There were no more obstacles in the direction of Beirut.

In 1942, South African army engineers built a railway line from Haifa to Beirut along the coast and Australian engineers continued the line to Tripoli. The line is no longer in use.

On January 9, 1976, during the Lebanese Civil War, Lebanese National Movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization laid siege to Damour. On January 20, 1976, thousands of militants from the PLO committed a massacre of the inhabitants in revenge for a massacre of Palestinians in Karantina.{{Citation |last=Traboulsi |first=Fawwaz |title=Reform by Arms (1975–1976) |date=2012 |work=A History of Modern Lebanon |pages=193–210 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p4f5.17 |access-date=2025-05-15 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-3274-1}}

During 1982 Lebanon War, the Israeli Air Force bombed Beirut and other several cities in the south, including Damour.{{Cite journal |last=Sayigh |first=Yezid |date=1983 |title=Israel's Military Performance in Lebanon, June 1982 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2536925 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=33 |jstor=2536925}}

During the 2006 Lebanon War, the Israeli Air Force destroyed several bridges on Highway Beirut-Tyre and on the Damour River.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAODcsrsfWI |title=Aftermath of airstrike on Damour bridge |date=2015-07-28 |last=AP Archive |access-date=2025-05-22 |via=YouTube}}

The history of the archeological bridge dates back to the era of prince-Béchir Shehab, who ordered its construction in 1815.{{Cite web |title=Iczm-platform |url=https://iczmplatform.org/public/search?query=damour |access-date=2025-05-15 |website=iczmplatform.org}} It was considered a strategic and important transit point between Mt Lebanon and the South.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

Archaeological remains from the Phoenician, Greek, and Roman periods can be found in Damour, such as mansions and farm houses. There are also apartment houses dating back to the Lebanon civil war.{{Cite journal |last=Makhzoumi |first=Jala |last2=Chmaitelly |first2=Hala |last3=Lteif |first3=Carine |date=2012-06-01 |title=Holistic conservation of bio-cultural diversity in coastal Lebanon: A landscape approach |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2212682112000078 |journal=Journal of Marine and Island Cultures |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=31 |doi=10.1016/j.imic.2012.04.003|doi-access=free }} The silk factories, for which Damour is known, are an important part of its heritage. It helps preserve the industrial heritage and ensures that people will be reminded of its history.{{Cite web |title=Iczm-platform |url=https://iczmplatform.org/search?query=Damour |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=iczmplatform.org}}

• Mar Thecla El Naame
• Mar Mikhael Al Damour
• Khiyam Al Damour
• Saadiyat
• Ghandouriyeh
• Missiar

• Ghada Georges Aoun
• Elie Saab
• Michel Aoun
• Georges Akl
• Rose Ghorayeb – Lebanese author and literary critic
• Mario Aoun (Minister)

Janna Sur Mer Resort in Damour, Lebanon.jpg

Jisr el Qadi - bridge over the River Damour.jpg

• Damour river
• Battle of Damour (1941)
• Damour massacre

{{Reflist}}

• Robert Fisk, Pity the Nation, André Deutsch Ltd. 1990, {{ISBN|978-0233985169}}

• [http://www.localiban.org/article4243.html Damour] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170328013244/http://www.localiban.org/article4243.html |date=2017-03-28 }}, Localiban

{{Chouf District}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Chouf District

Category:Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon