Ghazir () is a town and municipality in the Keserwan District of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is located north of Beirut. It has an average elevation of 380 meters above sea level and a total land area of .
Ghazir is divided into three major parts: Ghazir el-Fawka, Central Ghazir, and Kfarhbab. The inhabitants of Ghazir are predominantly Maronite Catholics. The town has four schools, two public and two private, with a total of 3,253 students as of 2008.
Etymology
Ghazir's name is derived from Arabic root words for "heavy rains", and the town is known for its numerous groundwater reserves.
History
Mamluk period
In the 13th century, when Ghazir was a small village, the Mamluk army invaded Keserwan and destroyed Ghazir among other villages of the district. However, at the time, the local Maronite militias were able to repel the Mamluks. The latter returned in 1305, launching a third surprise offensive against the Keserwani Maronites, massacring or exiling many of them. According to Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi, the Mamluks' target in the Keserwan campaigns were the Alawite and Shia Muslims who dominated the region. Afterward, the Mamluks garrisoned troops in Ghazir under the command of Suleiman Ibn 'Arab to guard the sea route between Tabarja and the Nahr al-Kalb river. The garrisoned force consisted of Sunni Muslim Turkmen tribesmen, who made Ghazir their headquarters in their ensuing feudal rivalry with the Druze Tanukh tribe that dominated southern Mount Lebanon.
Following its integration into the Mamluk Sultanate, Ghazir came under the jurisdiction of Wilayat Bayrut (Beirut District), part of the Safaqa al-Shamaliya (Northern Region) centered in Baalbek, which was part of the larger Mamlakat Dimashq (Damascus Province). The Turkmen emirs of Keserwan, like their Buhturid counterparts in southern Mount Lebanon, were able to hold onto their iqta'at (fiefs) in Keserwan and pass ownership to their descendants, which was atypical of iqta-holders under the Mamluks, who had to be frequently appointed by the authorities. The names of only four Turkmen emirs of Keserwan are known, a certain Sa'id, who was emir in 1361, his brother and successor 'Isa, and Ali ibn al-A'ma and his brother Umar ibn al-A'ma. The latter two were involved in the Mamluk rebellion led by Yalbugha an-Nasiri of Aleppo against the new sultan Barquq in 1389. Ali was killed when Barquq returned to power and sent an expedition against the Turkmens of Keserwan, while Umar was imprisoned and later released. Afterward, little information is known about the Turkmen, who continued to hold the Keserwan through the end of the Mamluk era in 1516.
Ottoman era
'Assaf period
The Ottoman Empire conquered the region after defeating the Mamluks in 1516. The Ottomans granted the 'Assaf clan control over Keserwan in addition to tax farms in the surrounding region. Moreover, the 'Assaf became the dominant political power in the Tripoli region. In 1517, Emir Assaf moved his family's headquarters from the Turkmen-dominated coastal villages and the Nahr al-Kalb ridge to Ghazir. The move to Ghazir likely contributed to the gradual deterioration of relations between the Assafs and the Turkmens, while at the same time bringing the Assafs socially and politically closer to the Maronites who lived in the interior of Keserwan. Ottoman tax records indicate Ghazir had 20 a population of 16 Christian and 3 Muslim households in 1523, 21 Christian and 14 Muslim households and 3 Christian bachelors in 1530, and 20 Christian and 4 Muslim households and 2 Christian bachelors in 1543.
Throughout the rule of Emir Mansur Assaf (r. 1528–1579), he eliminated his Sunni and Shia Muslim rivals in northern Mount Lebanon and the Tripoli region, including a massacre of several Bedouin tribesmen from the Ibn al-Hansh at a reception in his Ghazir headquarters. Emir Mansur maintained policies favorable to the Maronite clans of northern Mount Lebanon, who he did not view to be as dangerous of a threat to his power as his Muslim rivals, and encouraged their resettlement of Keserwan. Among these Maronite clans were the Khazens and Gemayels, but Mansur developed particularly strong ties with the Hubaysh family, who settled in Ghazir itself in 1517–1518 and served as the 'Assaf's chief political agents.