ALA-LC: al-Ḥāṣbānī; Hebrew: חצבניḤatzbaní) or Snir Stream (Hebrew: נחל שניר / Nahal Sənir), is the major tributary of the Jordan River. Native people in the mid-19th century knew the Hasbani as the Upper Jordan River.[1]
The Hasbani River derives most of its discharge from two
Dan Rivers at a point in northern Israel, to form the River Jordan.[5] For about 4 km (2.5 mi) downstream of Ghajar, the Hasbani forms the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights
.
The Wazzani's and the Haqzbieh's combined discharge averages 138 million m³ per year.[6] About 20% of the Hasbani flow[7] emerges from the Wazzani Spring at Ghajar, close to the Lebanese-Golan Heights border, about 3 km (1.9 mi) west of the base of Mount Hermon. The contribution of the Wazzani spring is very important, since this is the only continuous year-round flow into the Hasbani, in either Lebanon or Israel.[8]
In modern history
Bridge over Hasbani River 1920
The Hasbani was included in the
military intervention from Israel, first with tank and artillery fire and then, as the Syrians shifted the works further eastward, with airstrikes.[12]
Utilization of water resources in the area, including the Hasbani, has been a source of conflict and was one of the factors leading to the 1967 Six-Day War.[13][14]
In 2001, the Lebanese government installed a small pumping station with a 10 cm bore to extract water to supply Ghajar village.[15] In March 2002 Lebanon also diverted part of the Hasbani to supply Wazzani village. An action that Ariel Sharon said was a "casus belli" and could lead to war.[16][17][18][19]
on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2011-04-26. "Overall, there are about 40 major streams in Lebanon and, based on the hydrographic system, the country can be divided into five regions: ... [including] the Hasbani river basin in the south-east."
^UNU The Jordan River [1] "The Dan spring, the largest of the sources of the upper Jordan, lies wholly within Israel close to the border with Syria. The spring sources of the Hasbani River lie entirely within Lebanon. The spring source of the Banias River is in Syria. These three small streams unite 6 km inside Israel at about 70 m above sea level to form the upper Jordan River."
on 2008-04-09. Retrieved 2011-04-26. "Lebanon being at a higher elevation than its neighbours has practically no incoming surface water flow…. Surface water flow to Israel is estimated at 160 million m³/year, of which about 138 million m³ through the Hasbani river including a contribution of 30 million m³ from its tributary, the Wazzani spring."
MERIP
Heightened Israeli-Lebanese Tensions Over Jordan's Headwaters
[4]Archived 2016-12-29 at the Wayback Machine "In the hot summer months, the Wazzani springs are the only source of flowing water in the Hasbani. Upstream from the Wazzani, the river is dry."
^ abShlaim, Avi (200) ibid pp 229–230 In January 1964 an Arab League summit meeting convened in Cairo. The main item on the agenda was the threat posed by Israel's diversion of water from the north to irrigate the south and the expected reduction in the water supplies available to Syria and Jordan. The reaction of the summit to this threat was deadly serious. The preamble to its decision stated,
The establishment of Israel is the basic threat that the Arab nation in its entirety has agreed to forestall. And Since the existence of Israel is a danger that threatens the Arab nation, the diversion of the Jordan waters by it multiplies the dangers to Arab existence. Accordingly, the Arab states have to prepare the plans necessary for dealing with the political, economic and social aspects, so that if necessary results are not achieved, collective Arab military preparations, when they are not completed, will constitute the ultimate practical means for the final liquidation of Israel.
