Jbeil District

Byblos District (; transliteration: Qadaa' Jbeil), also called the Jbeil District (Jbeil is Lebanese Arabic for "Byblos"; standard Arabic Jubail), is a district (qadaa) of the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is located to the northeast of Lebanon's capital Beirut. The capital is Byblos. The rivers of al-Madfoun and Nahr Ibrahim form the district's natural northern and southern borders respectively, with the Mediterranean Sea bordering it from the west and Mount Lebanon from the east, separating it from the adjacent district of Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley. Demographics The district's population is predominantly Maronite Catholic, followed by a Shia Muslim minority community. The largest towns of the district are predominantly inhabited by Maronites; notably Byblos, Qartaba, Aqoura and Amsheet. Most Shia Muslims live in the villages of Almat, Ras Osta, Hjoula and Bichtlida, and in the jurd highlands of Lassa, Afqa and Mazraat es-Siyad. A Greek Orthodox minority forms part of the population and is spread among several villages know locally as qornet el-roum (the corner of the Greek Orthodox). The villages that make up qournet el-roum are Mounsef, Jeddayel, Helwe, Berbara, Gharzouz, Rihanneh and Chikhane. Byblos District has three seats allocated to it in the Lebanese Parliament. Two of these seats are allocated to Maronite Catholics, while the other seat is allocated to Shia Muslims. As of 2009, the religious make-up of the Byblos District's 75,584 voters were roughly 80% Maronite Catholic, 5% Shia Muslim and 5% Greek Orthodox. Landmarks and sights