Bar Elias 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 for its transit passes, as it is halfway between Beirut and Damascus.