Al-Wazzani (Al-Ouazzani, also known as Arab al-Louaizeh or Aarab El Louaizeh),[1] is a small Lebanese village in the Marjayoun District of the Nabatieh Governorate, on the banks of the Hasbani River. The village is located about 1 km from the Wazzani Spring, a major source of the Hasbani, which is a tributary of the Jordan River.[2] The village has about 200 residents.[1]
In 2001 the Lebanese government installed a small pumping station with a 10 cm bore near the village, to supply water to the village as well the nearby villages al-Teiba[3] and Ghajar.[4] In March 2002 Lebanon also diverted part of the Hasbani to supply Wazzani village, an action that then Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, said was a "casus belli" and could lead to war.[5][6][7][8] The pumping station was destroyed during the 2006 Lebanon War. In 2024, a Lebanese soldier was killed by an Israeli drone strike in the village, a day prior to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.[9][10]