Aynata

History

Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni identified Aynata as ancient En-hazor, and says it appears in the topographical lists of Thutmose III.

In 1854, Charles William Meredith van de Velde proposed that Aynata was Beth-Anath. W.M. Thomson repeated this claim in 1859, and Victor Guérin came to the same conclusion in 1880. The same view was held by historical geographer Georg Kampffmeyer (1892).

Foundations and columns of a ruined temple complex in the woods near the village were recorded by William McClure Thomson, who thought them to have once been called Kubrikha. He remarked that "the whole neighborhood is crowded with ancient but deserted sites."

Ottoman era

In 1596, it was named as a village, ‘’Aynata’’ in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the liwa' (district) of Safad, with a population of 111 households and 22 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, vineyards, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a fixed sum; a total of 10,560 akçe.

In 1875, Victor Guérin found a village with 400 Metualis.

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described it: "A village, built of stone, containing about 500 Metawileh. There is a Moslem school in the village; extensive vineyards and a few olives in the wady. Water supplied from birket and many cisterns.”

Modern era

Aynata is the family home of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, a prominent twelver Shia cleric.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, on July 19, an Israeli missile killed 4 civilians in the village. On July 24, Israel shelled two houses in the village; killing all inside both houses. One house had 4 Hezbollah fighters, the other house had 8 civilians, aged between 16 and 77.

Aaynata has a population of around 5,000 (dropping to 1,300 in the winter) and is 120 kilometers (74.568 mi) away from Beirut and sits 740 meters above sea level. The area borders Bent Jbayl, Aitaroun, and Yaroun. It was occupied by Israel and most residents emigrated to Beirut's southern suburbs. Israel pulled out of the area in 2000 and it has seen housing construction since that time. Tobacco and olives are grown in the area.

In 2024, during the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, the Israeli army attacked two vehicles. Hezbollah soldiers were traveling in one of the vehicles and in the other four family members of the journalist Samir Ayoub who were also killed in the attack.

On 22 February 2025, Hezbollah held a mass funeral for 35 of its fighters who were killed in action.

Hezbollah fatalities during 2006 Lebanon War

• Mousa Yousuf Khanafer*
• Amir Ibrahim Fadlallah
• Jamil Mahmoud an-Nimr
• Ali Muhammad as-Sayyid Ali
• Mahir Muhammad Sayf ad-Din
• Zayd Mahmoud Haydar*
• Muhammad Dheeb Khanafer
• Kazem Ali Khanafer
• Ammar Habib Qawsan
• Nazim Abdan-Nabi Nasrallah
• Marwan Husayn Samhat*
• Muhammad Hassan Samhat
• Hassan Ismail Mustafa
• Shakir Najib Ghanam

:* The body of the fighter was captured by IDF and removed to Israel but was returned to Lebanon in the prisoner exchanges in 2007-08.

Demographics

In 2014 Muslims made up 99.21% of registered voters in Aynata. 97.47% of the voters were Shiite Muslims.

References

Bibliography

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References

1. From personal name, according to Palmer 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp00conduoft#page/66/mode/1up 66]
2. Cambanis, Thanassis. (16 August 2006). "Reclaiming bodies and shattered lives in Lebanon". The Boston Globe.
3. Slackman, Michael. (11 July 2007). "Where Outsiders, and Fear, Loom Over Daily Life". The New York Times.
4. Freedman, et al., 2000, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA407 407]
5. Van de Velde, 1854, I, p. [https://archive.org/details/narrativeajourn00veldgoog/page/n199/mode/1up 170]
6. Thomson, 1859, p. [https://archive.org/stream/landandbookorbi05thomgoog#page/n325/mode/1up 315]
7. Guérin, 1880, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongogr00gugoog#page/n414/mode/1up 374]
8. Kampffmeyer (1892), pp. pp. 38, 42, 61, 64, 85, 87
9. Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 179
10. Note that Rhode, 1979, p. [https://www.academia.edu/2026845/The_Administration_and_Population_of_the_Sancak_of_Safed_in_the_Sixteenth_Century 6] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-04-20 writes that the register that Hütteroth and Abdulfattah studied was not from 1595/6, but from 1548/9)
11. Conder and Kitchener, 1881, SWP I, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp01conduoft#page/200/mode/1up 200]
12. HRW, 2007, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8P9-VqpNRv4C&pg=PA105 105]-106
13. HRW, 2007, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8P9-VqpNRv4C&pg=PA112 112]-113
14. [http://www.localiban.org/article3473.html Aaynata] Localiban
15. "Guerre entre Israël et le Hamas : quatre membres de la famille d'un journaliste libanais tués dans une frappe israélienne".
16. (22 February 2025). "Hezbollah holds funeral for 35 fighters killed while fighting Israel".
17. "شهداء عيناثا الابرار (The noble martyrs of Aynatha)". Municipality of Aynata.
18. "التوزيع حسب المذاهب للناخبين/ناخبات في بلدة عيناتا، قضاء بنت جبيل محافظة النبطية في لبنان".