Editing Geography of Lebanon (section)

==Physical geography and regions==
The area of Lebanon is {{convert|10452|km2}}.<ref name=":0" /> The country is roughly rectangular in shape, becoming narrower toward the south and the farthest north.<ref name=":0" /> Its widest point is {{convert|88|km}}, and its narrowest is {{convert|32|km}}; the average width is about {{convert|56|km}}.<ref name=":0" /> Because Lebanon straddles the northwest of the [[Arabian Plate]], it is sometimes geopolitically grouped together with nations with adjacent tectonic proximations such as Syria, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Egyptian Sinai, Palestine, Israel and the [[UAE]].<ref>Egyptian Journal of Geology – Volume 42, Issue 1 – Page 263, 1998</ref>

The physical geography of Lebanon is influenced by natural systems that extend outside the country.<ref name=":0" /> Thus, the [[Beqaa Valley]] is part of the Great Rift system, which stretches from southern [[Turkey]] to [[Mozambique]] in Africa.<ref name=":0" /> Like any mountainous country, Lebanon's physical geography is complex.<ref name=":0" /> Land forms, climate, soils, and vegetation differ markedly within short distances.<ref name=":0" /> There are also sharp changes in other elements of the environment, from good to poor soils, as one moves through the Lebanese mountains.<ref name=":0" />

A major feature of Lebanese topography is the alternation of lowland and highland that runs generally parallel with a north-to-south orientation.<ref name=":0" /> There are four such longitudinal strips between the Mediterranean Sea and Syria: the coastal strip (or the maritime plain), western Lebanon, the central plateau, and eastern Lebanon.<ref name=":0" />

The extremely narrow coastal strip stretches along the shore of the eastern Mediterranean.<ref name=":0" /> Hemmed in between sea and mountain, the sahil, as it is called in Lebanon, is widest in the north near Tripoli, where it is only {{convert|6.5|km}} wide.<ref name=":0" /> A few kilometers south at Juniyah the approximately 1.5-kilometer-wide plain is succeeded by foothills that rise steeply to {{convert|750|m}} within {{convert|6.5|km}} from the sea.<ref name=":0" /> For the most part, the coast is abrupt and rocky.<ref name=":0" /> The shoreline is regular with no deep [[estuary]], gulf, or [[natural harbor]].<ref name=":0" /> The maritime plain is especially productive of fruits and vegetables.<ref name=":0" />

The western range, the second major region, is the [[Lebanon Mountains]], sometimes called [[Mount Lebanon]], or Lebanon proper before 1920.<ref name=":0" /> Since [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] days the term Mount Lebanon has encompassed this area.<ref name=":0" /> Antilibanos ([[Anti-Lebanon]]) was used to designate the eastern range.<ref name=":0" /> Geologists believe that the twin mountains once formed one range.<ref name=":0" /> The Lebanon Mountains are the highest, most rugged, and most imposing of the whole maritime range of mountains and plateaus that start with the [[Nur Mountains]] in northern [[Syria]] and end with the towering massif of [[sinai peninsula|Sinai]].<ref name=":0" /> The mountain structure forms the first barrier to communication between the Mediterranean and Lebanon's eastern hinterland.<ref name=":0" /> The mountain range is a clearly defined unit having natural boundaries on all four sides.<ref name=":0" /> On the north it is separated from the [[Al-Ansariyah mountains]] of Syria by [[Nahr al-Kabir]] ("the great river"); on the south it is bounded by Al Qasimiyah River, giving it a length of 169 kilometers.<ref name=":0" /> Its width varies from about {{convert|56.5|km}} near [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]] to {{convert|9.5|km}} on the southern end.<ref name=":0" /> It rises to alpine heights southeast of Tripoli.<ref name=":0" /> [[Qurnat as Sawda']] ("the black nook") reaches {{convert|3360|m}}<ref name=":0" /> and is the highest mountain of Lebanon.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}} Of the other peaks that rise east of Beirut, [[Mount Sannine]] ({{convert|2695|m}}) is the highest.<ref name=":0" /> Ahl al Jabal ("people of the mountain"), or simply jabaliyyun, has referred traditionally to the inhabitants of western Lebanon. Near its southern end, the Lebanon Mountains branch off to the west to form the Shuf Mountains.<ref name=":0" />

The third geographical region is the [[Beqaa Valley]].<ref name=":0" /> This central highland between the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains is about {{convert|177|km}} in length and 9.6 to 16 kilometers wide and has an average elevation of {{convert|762|m}}.<ref name=":0" /> Its middle section spreads out more than its two extremities. Geologically, the [[Beqaa Valley|Beqaa]] is the medial part of a depression that extends north to the western bend of the [[Orontes River]] in Syria and south to [[Jordan]] through [[Arabah]] to [[Aqaba]], the eastern arm of the [[Red Sea]].<ref name=":0" /> The Beqaa is the country's chief agricultural area and served as a granary of Roman Syria.<ref name=":0" /> Beqaa is the Arabic plural of buqaah, meaning a place with [[stagnant water]].<ref name=":0" />

Emerging from a base south of [[Homs]] in [[Syria]], the eastern mountain range, or Anti-Lebanon (Lubnan ash Sharqi), is almost equal in length and height to the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" /> This fourth geographical region falls swiftly from [[Mount Hermon]] to the Hawran Plateau, whence it continues through Jordan south to the [[Dead Sea]].<ref name=":0" /> The Barada Gorge divides Anti-Lebanon.<ref name=":0" /> In the northern section, few villages are on the western slopes, but in the southern section, featuring Mount Hermon (2860 meters), the western slopes have many villages. Anti-Lebanon is more arid, especially in its northern parts, than Mount Lebanon and is consequently less productive and more thinly populated.<ref name=":0" /><gallery>
File:Jayroun, Lebanon - panoramio.jpg|Jayroun
File:White mule in the Dunnieh Mountains, North Lebanon.jpg|White mule in the Dunnieh Mountains
File:Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve 03.jpg|Jabal Moussa Biosphere Rerserve
File:View of the Kadisha Valley, Lebanon.jpg|Kadisha valley
File:Lebanese coastline, Oct 2012.jpg|Lebanese coastline
File:Bteghrine from Haret Ali.JPG|Mount Lebanon
File:Mount Sannine.jpg|Mount Sannine
</gallery>