Lassa, Lebanon

Place in Keserwan-Jbeil, Lebanon

Lassa لاسا
34°4′34″N 35°51′36″E / 34.07611°N 35.86000°E / 34.07611; 35.86000
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Keserwan-Jbeil
District	Byblos
Area
• Total	7.39 km² (2.85 sq mi)
Elevation	1,130 m (3,710 ft)

Lassa (Arabic: لاسا) is a municipality in the Byblos District of Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate, Lebanon. It is 90 kilometers north of Beirut. Lassa has an average elevation of 1,130 meters above sea level and a total land area of 739 hectares. The village contains one public school, which enrolled 15 students in 2008.^[1] Its inhabitants are predominantly Shia Muslims with a Maronite minority.^[2]

History

Lassa was burnt by the Ottomans many times in reprisal for the Hamadeh lords' failure to remit tax incomes. In the late 18th century, the Hamadeh and most of their allied clans were driven out of Lassa and Mount Lebanon to the Beqaa valley.^[3]

The village of Lassa has been at the center of a controversy over property ownership and development, revolving around the Maronite Church's claim to two-thirds of the village's 3 million square meters of land. Tensions escalated when the Miqdad family began construction on this contested land, sparking condemnation from the Church and allegations from politicians aligned with the March 14 Alliance that Hezbollah was behind the actions, with one MTV reporter calling it the establishment of "the republic of the dahieh in Lasa". This event raised concerns about Hezbollah's oppressive influence spreading into traditionally Christian areas.^[4]

References

^ "Lassa". Localiban. Localiban. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
^ Cammett, Melani; Issar, Sukriti (July 2010). "Bricks and Mortar Clientalism: Sectarianism and the Logics of Welfare Allocation in Lebanon". World Politics. 62 (3): 381–421. doi:10.1017/S0043887110000080. JSTOR 40891382. PMC 4029429. PMID 24860198. SSRN 1860586.
^ Winter, Stefan (11 March 2010). The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516–1788. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781139486811.
^ Arsan, Andrew (2018). Lebanon: a country in fragments (First published in the United Kingdom ed.). London: Hurst & Company. p. 240. ISBN 978-1-84904-700-5.