Tyre is a city in Lebanon and one of the oldest cities in the world that has been continuously lived in. It was one of the first large cities of the Phoenician people and is famous as the birthplace of Europa, her brothers Cadmus and Phoenix, and Carthage’s founder Dido (Elissa). The city has many ancient places, such as the Tyre Hippodrome, and was added entirely to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1984. The historian Ernest Renan described it as "a city of ruins, built out of ruins."

Tyre is the fifth-largest city in Lebanon, following Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, and Baalbek. It is the capital of the Tyre District in the South Governorate. In 2016, about 200,000 people lived in the Tyre urban area, including many refugees. The city is home to three of the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon: Burj El Shimali, El Buss, and Rashidieh.

Territory

Tyre extends from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is located about 80 km (50 mi) south of Beirut. It originally had two separate cities: Tyre itself, which was on an island about 500 to 700 meters (yards) away from the shore; and a nearby settlement called Ushu on the mainland, later named Palaetyrus in Greek, meaning "Old Tyre." The city was built on a rock, and its name comes from the Phoenician word "S'r," which means "rock." Tyre had two ports: the "Sidonian port" to the north, which still exists in part today, and the "Egyptian port" to the south, which may have been recently discovered.

From ancient times, people living in the Tyre area had access to plenty of fresh water, especially from springs like Rashidieh and Ras Al Ain in the south. Other springs, such as Al Bagbog and Ain Ebreen in the north, and the Litani River, also known as Alqasymieh, provided water. Today’s city of Tyre covers much of the original island and includes most of the causeway built by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Over time, this land bridge grew wider due to silt deposits. The part of the island not covered by the modern city is mostly an archaeological site showing remains from ancient Tyre.

Four municipalities contribute to Tyre’s built-up area of 16.7 square kilometers (6 + 7⁄16 square miles), though none are fully included. Sour municipality includes the city’s center, excluding a natural and coastal reserve. Burj El Shimali to the east excludes unpopulated farmland. Abbasiyet Sour to the north excludes farmland and a disconnected village. Ain Baal to the southeast also excludes farmland and disconnected villages. Tyre’s urban area is on a fertile coastal plain, which explains why about 44% of its land was used for farming within the city in 2017, while over 40% was built-up land.

In terms of land shapes and earthquake risks, Tyre is near the Roum Fault and the Yammouneh Fault. While it has experienced many earthquakes over time, the risk is considered low in most areas and moderate in some. However, tsunamis caused by earthquakes, followed by landslides and floods, could pose serious dangers to the people of Tyre.

Large amounts of natural gas are believed to be under Lebanese waters, much of it near Tyre’s coast. However, efforts to use this gas have been delayed due to disagreements with Israel over borders.

Etymology

The city of Tyre was known by different names in ancient times. These include Akkadian Ṣurru, Phoenician Ṣūr (𐤑𐤓), and Hebrew Ṣōr (צֹוֹר). In Semitic languages, the name may mean "rock," referring to the rocky land on which the city was built.

The most common name in Classical Greek was Týros (Τύρος), first recorded by the writer Herodotus, though it may have been used much earlier. This name became Latin Tyrus and entered the English language during the Middle English period as "Tyre." People from Tyre are called Tyrians.

Climate

Tyre has a type of climate called Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen system), which has six months of dry weather from May to October. On average, it experiences about 300 sunny days each year and an average yearly temperature of 20.8 °C (69.5 °F). The highest average temperature occurs in August at 30.8 °C (87.5 °F), while the lowest average temperature happens in January at 10 °C (50 °F). The area receives about 645 mm (25½") of rain each year on average. Sea water is coldest at 17 °C (63°F) in February and warmest at 32 °C (90°F) in August. At a depth of 70 metres (200'), the water stays between 17–18 °C (63 to 64°F) all year.

Rising sea levels caused by global warming could cause coastal erosion in Tyre's peninsula and bay areas.

History

The ancient city of Tyre is located along the coast of Phoenicia in modern-day Lebanon. People have lived there since the Bronze Age. Tyre became an important city-state of the Phoenicians between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. During this time, Tyre helped establish colonies in places like Carthage and Leptis Magna around the Mediterranean Sea. The city was ruled by the Persians in 572 BC and later conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. Archaeological remains from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Medieval periods were found at the site. These remains were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1984.

The Roman historian Justin wrote that the first people who settled Tyre came from the nearby city of Sidon to build a new harbor. The Greek historian Herodotus, who lived around 484 to 425 BC, visited Tyre about 450 BC. He wrote that priests in Tyre said the city was built about 2300 years earlier, around 2750 BC. This early city was located on the mainland and is now called Paleotyre.

The Phoenicians of Tyre traded goods using two harbors. These harbors are mentioned by ancient writers like Arrian and Strabo. The northern harbor faced the city of Sidon and was called the "Sidonian Harbour" by scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was also known as the "Port of Astronoe" during Late Antiquity. The southern harbor faced Egypt and was called the "Egyptian Harbour." The exact locations of these harbors have been debated since the 17th century. Underwater excavations found a large breakwater from the 4th to 6th centuries BC, along with harbor sediments from 250 BC to 500 AD. These discoveries confirm the existence of the northern harbor throughout ancient times, under the modern harbor of Tyre.

The location of the southern harbor is harder to determine. In the 1800s, Renan believed it was an underwater structure south of the former island. Later, diving surveys found man-made structures on the seafloor near the island. Antoine Poidebard, who first explored these structures in 1939, thought they were breakwaters that enclosed a harbor with two entrances. These structures are often called the "Southern Harbour." Some researchers believe they were part of a system that protected an urban area. A Phoenician-style breakwater was recently found in this area, but more digging is needed to confirm its age. Sediments behind the breakwater suggest it was part of the Egyptian Harbour. Sediments near Hiram's Tower, farther north, indicate an earlier location of the Sidonian Harbour.

The construction of a causeway by Alexander the Great in 332 BC greatly changed Tyre. This causeway was about 750 meters long and 60 meters wide. It was built over a shallow underwater sandbank less than 5.4 meters deep. The sandbank formed from sand堆积 (accumulation) behind the island, caused by waves bending around it. The causeway blocked the movement of sand along the shore, causing sand to pile up and form a sandy land bridge, or tombolo, connecting the island to the mainland.

Over centuries, this sandy land bridge grew larger. By the time of the Roman Empire, large buildings were built on most of its surface. These buildings suggest the isthmus was nearly as wide as it is today. The land bridge completely changed the eastern coast of Tyre Island within 6 to 10 centuries after the causeway was built. This transformation caused the city to change dramatically.

Coast Nature Reserve

Tyre is known for having some of the cleanest beaches and water in Lebanon. However, a report by UN HABITAT found that seawater is polluted because of wastewater being released, especially near the port. There is also a lot of pollution from solid waste.

The Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR) was created in 1998 by the Ministry of Public Works. It is 3.5 kilometers long and covers more than 380 hectares. The TCNR is located in the best-preserved sandy coastline in southern Lebanon and is divided into two sections. One section is a 1.8-kilometer beach that is 500 meters wide, stretching from the Tyre Rest House in the north to the Rashidieh Refugee Camp in the south. The other section is 2 kilometers long and includes farmland, small family farms, and the springs of Ras El Ain, which have three natural artesian wells. This area extends from Rashidieh to the village of Chaetiyeh in the south.

The first section is split into two zones. One zone is for tourism and includes a public beach that is about 900 meters long. During the summer, restaurant tents are set up here, and on busy days, up to 20,000 visitors come. The second zone is a conservation area that protects sea turtles and migrating birds.

The reserve is home to many types of plants and animals, which is why it was declared a Ramsar Site in 1999. This designation is part of an international agreement to protect wetlands and use them wisely. The TCNR is considered "the last bio-geographic ecosystem in Lebanon" and is an important place for migratory birds, endangered sea turtles like the Loggerhead and green sea turtle, the Arabian spiny mouse, and other animals such as wall lizards, common pipistrelle bats, and European badgers. Dolphins are also often seen in the waters near Tyre.

However, the variety of life in the TCNR is in danger. Numbers of the Caspian terrapin, green toad, and tree frog have dropped significantly. Since the 2000s, the North American camphorweed, a plant that is not native to the area, has spread into the TCNR from Haifa across the Blue Line.

During the 2006 war, areas where turtles lay their eggs were damaged when the Israeli Defense Forces bombed the conservation site. In February 2021, an oil spill that caused serious damage to the coast north of Ashkelon also affected Tyre’s beaches.

Historical and cultural heritage

The most lasting influence from the Phoenicians on the people of Tyre is the effect that the Syriac and Akkadian languages had on the Arabic spoken in the area. A common word used to describe vegetables and fruits grown without special care, "Ba'ali," comes from the Baal religion. The Tyrian neighborhood of Ain Baal is also named after the Phoenician god Baal. The most visible parts of ancient and medieval history are the archaeological sites:

The first excavations were done by Ernest Renan in 1860 and 1861. Later, in the 1870s, Johann Nepomuk Sepp worked on finding the bones of Frederick Barbarossa at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. In 1903, Theodore Makridi, a Greek archaeologist, uncovered pieces of marble sarcophagi and sent them to the Ottoman capital.

In 1921, a French team led by Denyse Le Lasseur studied Tyre. Between 1934 and 1936, Antoine Poidebard, a Jesuit missionary and pioneer of aerial archaeology, led a team that used planes and diving to explore the area.

Large-scale excavations began in 1946 under Emir Maurice Chéhab, known as "the father of modern Lebanese archaeology." His teams found remains in the Al Bass/Hippodrome and the City Site/Roman baths.

In the 1960s, Honor Frost, a pioneer of underwater archaeology, studied the coastal area of Tyre to learn more about ancient harbors. She suggested that the Al Mobarakee Tower might be from the Hellenistic period.

Work on Tyre stopped during the Civil War that began in 1975, and many records were lost. In 1984, UNESCO declared Tyre a World Heritage Site to protect it from damage caused by war and poor planning.

In the late 1980s, secret excavations at the Al-Bass cemetery led to the sale of ancient items. Excavations restarted in 1995 under Ali Khalil Badawi. Later, an Israeli bomb destroyed a building, revealing evidence of an early church, possibly the Cathedral of Paulinus built in 315 CE.

In 1997, the first Phoenician cremation cemetery was found near the Roman necropolis. Honor Frost also helped Lebanese archaeologists study underwater areas, discovering a man-made structure in the northern harbor.

In 2003, Randa Berri, president of a group that preserves Lebanon’s heritage, planned to turn Khan Sour into a museum, but no progress was made by 2019.

The 2006 Lebanon War threatened Tyre’s ancient sites, but no direct damage was found. However, some ancient decorations and structures were harmed.

Since 2008, a team from France and Lebanon has studied Tyre. After wars in Syria stopped archaeological work there, some teams moved to Tyre, including a group led by Leila Badre.

Tyre’s cultural heritage faces threats from development and illegal trade. A planned highway in 2011 would have passed through areas with ancient remains, but the project was not completed.

A 2018 study showed that Tyre’s City site is at high risk from coastal erosion and rising sea levels. In 2019, new underwater structures were discovered.

Since the 1970s, poor-quality buildings have damaged Tyre’s older structures. Some Ottoman-era buildings, like Khan Rabu and Khan Sour, have collapsed due to neglect.

In 2013, the International Association to Save Tyre raised money by selling tickets to win a Picasso painting. The money helped build a village for artisans.

In 2024, UNESCO increased protection for 34 cultural sites in Lebanon, including Tyre, during the Israeli invasion.

Tyre is mentioned in many biblical stories:
– In Joshua 19, the fortified city of Tyre was given to the Tribe of Asher.
– King Hiram I of Tyre helped David and Solomon build the palace and Temple in Jerusalem.
– Tyre is listed with other nations that opposed God’s people.
– The Book of Isaiah says Tyre would be forgotten for 70 years after its fortress was destroyed.
– The Book of Joel groups Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia together, saying people from Judah and Jerusalem were sold to the Greeks.
– Tyre is also mentioned in the Book of Ezekiel, Book of Amos, Psalms, and Book of Zechariah, which predict its destruction.

Jesus visited the region of Tyre.

Cultural life

The first cinema in Tyre opened in the late 1930s when a café owner set up temporary film showings. Hamid Istanbouli, a fisherman and traditional storyteller (hakawati), projected films on the wall of a Turkish hammam. In 1939, the Roxy cinema opened, followed by the "Empire" in 1942.

In 1959, the "Cinema Rivoli of Tyre" opened and became one of the country's main movie theaters. According to UNIFIL, it was visited by famous people of the time, including Jean Marais, Brigitte Bardot, Rushdi Abaza, and Omar Hariri. In 1964, the "Dunia" opened, and two years later, the "Al Hamra Cinema" opened. This venue hosted performances by well-known Arab artists, such as Mahmoud Darwish, Sheikh Imam, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Wadih el-Safi, and Marcel Khalife.

At the same time, two Tyrian artists influenced Lebanese music: Halim el-Roumi (1919–1983) and Ghazi Kahwaji (1945–2017). Some sources say el-Roumi was born in Tyre to Lebanese parents, while others claim he was born in Nazareth and later moved to Tyre. He taught at Jafariya High School and became director of Radio Lebanon's music department in 1950. There, he discovered the singer Fairuz and introduced her to the Rahbani brothers. He worked closely with them to create music.

Kahwaji was Lebanon's first scenographer and led the artistic direction for the Rahbani brothers and Fairuz for three decades. He used his position to oppose confessionalism and fundamentalism. Kahwaji also taught at Lebanese University and Saint Joseph University in Beirut. Between 2008 and 2010, he wrote a three-volume book series called "Kahwajiyat," which criticized social injustice in the Arab world.

Armed conflict severely affected Tyre's cultural life. In 1975, the "Festivals de Tyr," planned by Maha al-Khalil Chalabi, were canceled due to the start of the Civil War. Some cinemas were damaged by Israeli attacks in 1982, and all eventually closed by 1989, including the Hamra and AK2000.

In the mid-1990s, the idea of a Tyre International Festival was revived. Since then, it has been held annually at the ancient Roman hippodrome, featuring artists such as Elton John, Sarah Brightman, and Lebanese performers like Wadih El Safi, Demis Roussos, Kadim Al-Saher, Melhem Barakat, Julia Boutros, and Majida El Roumi, who is the daughter of Halim el-Roumi.

In 2006, Tyre's municipality opened the "Centre de Lecture et d'Animation Culturelle" (C.L.A.C.), the city's first public library. It was supported by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture and the French Embassy in Beirut. The library is located in the historical "Beit Daoud" building, near the "Beit El Medina," a former Mamluk house in the old town.

In 2014, the NGO Tiro Association for Arts restored the defunct Al Hamra Cinema under the leadership of Kassem Istanbouli, a Palestinian-Lebanese street theater performer, actor, comedian, and director. His grandfather was one of the founders of cinema in Tyre, and his father repaired cinema projectors.

In 2018, the Istanbouli Theatre troupe restored the Rivoli Cinema, which had been closed since 1988, and established the Lebanese National Theater as a free cultural space. The theater focuses on training children and youth in the arts and operates the "Mobile Peace Bus," decorated with graffiti of Lebanese cultural icons, to promote arts in nearby villages.

In 2019, the film Manara (Arabic for "lighthouse"), directed by Lebanese filmmaker Zayn Alexander and filmed at the Al Fanar resort in Tyre, won the Laguna Sud Award for Best Short Film at the Venice Days Strand festival.

• The ruins of the building that used to house the Empire cinema, 2019
• Halim El Roumi
• Layal Abboud in 2015
• Karim Istanbouli in 2019 at the Rivoli
• Video of the carnival during the TIRO INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL 2019

Education

There are many universities in Lebanon.

The Jafariya School was started in 1938 by Imam Abdul Hussein Sharafeddin. It grew quickly because of money given by wealthy people who had moved abroad. In 1946, it became a Secondary School, the first of its kind in Southern Lebanon. It has remained one of the most important schools in Tyre ever since.

A major part of education in Tyre is the charity group started by Imam Musa al-Sadr, who is no longer alive. His sister, Rabab al-Sadr, has led the group since 1978, the year he disappeared. The group works in many parts of Lebanon, but its main office is near the southern entrance of the Tyre peninsula, close to the sea. It runs orphanages and also offers education and job training for adults, especially young women. It also helps with health and development projects.

Musa al-Sadr helped create the Islamic University of Lebanon (IUL), which officially opened in 1996. It has a branch on the seafront in Tyre. The university’s leadership is mostly made up of people from the Supreme Shiite Council, which Musa al-Sadr founded in 1967.

The Lebanese Evangelical School in Tyre has been around for over 150 years and is likely the largest school in the city. Collège Élite, a French international school, opened in 1996 and is one of many private schools in Tyre. Cadmous College is a school for students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, run by Maronite missionaries. About 10% of its students are Christian, and 90% are Muslim.

In August 2019, Ismail Ajjawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian living in Tyre and a graduate of the UNRWA "Deir Yassin" High School in the El-Buss refugee camp, became famous worldwide after earning top scores to get a scholarship to study at Harvard University. He was sent back to Lebanon when he arrived in Boston, even though he had a valid visa. He was allowed to return to start his studies ten days later.

Demographics

In 2014, Muslims made up 78.64% and Christians made up 21.02% of registered voters in Tyre. Of these voters, 66.29% were Shiite Muslims, 12.33% were Sunni Muslims, and 12.03% were Greek Catholics.

The government of Lebanon has only provided rough estimates of population numbers since 1932. This makes it difficult to create an exact statistical record of the population.

The Lebanese population in Tyre is mostly Shia Muslim, with a small but noticeable Christian community. In 2010, Christians were estimated to make up 15% of Tyre’s population. In 2017, the Maronite Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre reported about 42,500 members. Most of these people live in the mountains of Southern Lebanon, while only about 500 live in Tyre itself. The Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Tyre, which includes areas in both the South and Nabatieh Governorates, reported 2,857 members in 2017.

The city of Tyre is home to more than 60,000 Palestinian refugees, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, with some Christian families. Tyre also hosted Shia Muslims from seven villages that were emptied in 1948. These people settled in areas like Shabriha. As of June 2018, there were 12,281 registered people in the Al Buss camp, 24,929 in Burj El Shimali, and 34,584 in Rashidieh. In the informal settlement of Jal Al Bahar near the coastal highway, about 2,500 people lived there in 2015.

In all refugee camps, the number of Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria has increased in recent years. Tensions have grown because these new arrivals often accept jobs in citrus and banana farms for half the daily wage that local Palestinian refugees used to earn.

In early 2019, about 1,500 Syrian refugees were removed from informal settlements near the Litani River. They were accused of polluting the water, which is already heavily contaminated.

Tyre is known as "Little West Africa." Many families in Tyre have relatives in Western Africa, especially in Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria. In Senegal, most immigrants came from Tyre. Many members of the Tyrian communities there are second, third, or fourth-generation migrants who have never visited Lebanon. One of Tyre’s main streets is called "Avenue du Senegal."

By 2019, it was estimated that 250,000 foreign workers, mostly Ethiopian women, were in Lebanon under the Kafala system of sponsorship. This has created a large community of African migrants in Tyre. These workers are mainly Ethiopian women who serve as domestic helpers. Some of them attend church services at the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of Saint Thomas, which has a chapel dedicated to Tyre-born Saint Frumentius, the first bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In April 2014, an Ethiopian man made headlines after a suicide in Tyre.

The 2016 UN HABITAT profile found that:

Economy

The economy of urban Tyre mainly relies on tourism, construction services, and money sent from Tyrians living abroad, especially in West Africa. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) helps the Tyrian economy by spending money and supporting projects that improve roads and public areas quickly.

In 2016, olive trees covered 38% of Tyre’s farmland, but farmers did not work together to sell their products. Citrus trees covered 25% of farmland, but 20% of the harvest was not used.

Tyre has one of the country’s major ports, though it is much smaller than the ports in Beirut, Tripoli, and Sidon/Saida. Its port mainly handles the occasional import of used cars. After the 2020 explosion in Beirut, which damaged the port and parts of the capital, the government decided to use Tyre’s port as a backup for Tripoli’s port.

In the harbor area, the Barbour family continues to build wooden boats, keeping an old tradition in the Mediterranean. However, their business has had difficulty staying in business. By 2004, over 600 fishermen in Tyre struggled to earn enough money.

Between 2014 and 2018, land transactions in Tyre grew by 4.4%, the highest rate in the country during that time. This increase in real estate prices is mostly due to money sent from Tyrians living abroad.

Off Tyre’s coast, Block 9 was given to a group of companies—French company TotalEnergies, Italian company Eni, and Russian company Novatek—for deepwater natural gas drilling.

Sports

Tadamon Sour Sporting Club, also called Tadamon (which means "Solidarity"), is known as "The Ambassador of the South." The club was started in 1946 and is the oldest football club in Tyre. Tadamon plays its home games at the Tyre Municipal Stadium. The club has won one Lebanese FA Cup (2000–01) and two Lebanese Challenge Cups (2013 and 2018). Tadamon's main rivals, Salam Sour Sports Club, are also based in Tyre.

According to BBC reports, Tadamon SC lost its Lebanese Premier League championship title in 2001 because of accusations of match-fixing.

In 2001, the club made one of its most important moves when Roda Antar, who had grown up in Tadamon's youth teams, was sent on loan to Germany's Hamburger SV for two seasons. After playing for eight years in Germany with teams like Hamburg, SC Freiburg, and 1. FC Köln, Antar played for six more years in China's Super League. He later returned to Tadamon for one final season before retiring.

Several players from Tyre have played in the Lebanese Premier League and also represented the Lebanon national team. These players include Rabih Ataya and Nassar Nassar.

Twin towns – sister cities

Tyre has sister city relationships with:

• Algiers , Algeria
• Dezful , Iran
• Málaga , Spain
• Perpignan , France
• Tunis , Tunisia /think

Notable people

• Hiram I, Biblical King of Tyre
• Pygmalion of Tyre, King of Tyre
• Europa, Phoenician Princess of Tyre
• Belus, King of Tyre in the Aeneid
• Dido, founder-heroine of Carthage
• Diodorus of Tyre (late 2nd century BC), a Peripatetic philosopher and leader of the Peripatetic school in Athens
• Antipater of Tyre (1st century BC), a Stoic philosopher
• Adrianus, a sophist
• Apollonius of Tyre (philosopher) (c. 50 BC), a philosopher
• Marinus of Tyre, a Hellenic geographer, mapmaker, and mathematician whose work greatly influenced Ptolemy’s famous Geography, as noted by Ptolemy
• Ulpian (early 3rd century AD), a famous Roman jurist who taught at the renowned law school in Beirut
• Meropius of Tyre (Μερόπιος), a philosopher who traveled with two relatives, Frumentius (Φρουμέντιος) and Edesius (Εδέσιος), to ancient India
• Saint Christina of Tyre (3rd century AD), a martyr
• Porphyry, a Neoplatonic philosopher and writer who edited and published The Enneads of Plotinus and wrote Isagoge, a book introducing logic and philosophy that became a standard textbook during the Middle Ages
• Allaqa (10th century), a mariner who led a revolt against the Fatimid Caliphate
• William of Tyre (12th century AD), a historian and Archbishop of Tyre
• Abdel Hussein Sharafeddine, a Shi'a reformer
• Musa Sadr, a Shi'a leader
• Rabab al-Sadr, an activist and sister of the former
• Halim el-Roumi, a singer and composer
• Nabih Berri, a leader of the Amal movement
• As'ad AbuKhalil, an anarchist and professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus
• Zaki Chehab, founder and editor-in-chief of ArabsToday.net
• Alaa Zalzali, a singer
• Joe Barza, a chef and television personality
• Périhane Chalabi Cochin, a TV host
• Rabih Ataya (born 1989), a Lebanese football player
• Nassar Nassar (born 1992), a Lebanese football player
• Bilal Najdi (born 1993), a Lebanese football player
• Zein Farran (born 1999), a Lebanese football player