Rab Thalathin

Rab Thalathin (Arabic: رب ثلاثين) is a municipality in the Marjayoun District in southern Lebanon.

Rab Thalathin رب ثلاثين
Municipality
Rab Thalathin Location within Lebanon
Coordinates: 33°14′56″N 35°31′8″E
Grid position	198/294 PAL
Country	Lebanon
Governorate	Nabatieh Governorate
District	Marjayoun District
Elevation	620 m (2,030 ft)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Dialing code	+961

Etymology

According to E. H. Palmer, the name Rubb Thelâthin comes from rubb meaning syrup; and thelâthin meaning thirty.^[1]

History

In 1875, Victor Guérin found it to be a village inhabited by Metawileh. He further remarked that the mosque was constructed out of parts from an old church.^[2]

In 1881, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found here "several lintels and cisterns."^[3]

They further described it: "A small village, built of stone, containing about 100 Metawileh, situated on a hill-top, surrounded by figs and arable land; water supply from cisterns and spring near, and a small birket.^[4]

Modern era

During the 2006 Lebanon War, on the 10th of August, Israeli missiles killed five women in the village, aged from 31 to 82 years of age. According to Human Rights Watch there were no indications that Hezbollah fighters were present at the time of the strikes.^[5]

In October 2024 the IDF claimed to have blown up a large underground complex at Rab Thalathin, said to have been in construction for a decade or more. The complex - the IDF claimed - was ready to host 200 Hezbollah militants, and included computerized communications control rooms, supplies for months, ammunition on a battalion scale, RPGs, long-range anti-tank missiles, charges of various sizes, hundreds of rifles, and other tactical equipment. This was the largest ever engineered explosion by the IDF.^{[6][needs independent confirmation]}

Demographics

In 2014 Muslims made up 99.56% of registered voters in Rab Thalathin. 97.05% of the voters were Shiite Muslims.^[7]