Bar Elias
بر الياس | |
|---|---|
  Bar Elias Location in Lebanon | |
| Coordinates: 33°46′30″N 35°54′00″E / 33.77500°N 35.90000°E | |
| Country |  Lebanon |
| Governorate | Bekaa Governorate |
| District | Zahlé District |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Vacant |
| Area | |
| • City | 7 km2 (3 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 35 km2 (14 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • City | 300 000 |
| • Metro | 375 000 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | +3 |
Bar Elias (Arabic: Arabic: برالياس; also transliterated Barelias, Barr Elias or Bar Ilyas) is a town located in the Zahlé District, Bekaa Governorate, Lebanon. With around 40,000 inhabitants, mostly Sunni Muslims, it is the second largest town, after Zahlé, in the Zahlé District. Bar Elias is a village of the Bekaa Valley, the center of Bekaa. It is known widely by its transit passes, as it is halfway between Beirut and Damascus.
As the distance between the center of the northern Bekaa and the south became important because of its central valleys and on the international line of the most important economic centers and the largest commercial markets, Bar Elias has good neighborly relations with the rest of the towns and villages in the province. Easily accessible from all directions and in the center of the Bekaa Valley, Bar Elias is an open gate to all guests and visitors.
Bar Elias is 900 m above sea level, at a distance of 51 km from Beirut via Damascus-Chtoura. It is spread over both sides of the international line between Beirut and Damascus over the exterior 4 km. A lovely green plain extends across distances up to Anjar to the east, Zahlé to the west, Kafr Zabad and Addalhamiah to the north, and Almarj to the south.
It consists of a vast land area of about 35000 dunums (3500 hectares), of which about 7000 dunums are residential and the rest agricultural.[citation needed]