Bekka, the, or El Beqa'a A governorate of E
Lebanon separated from Syria by the
Anti-Lebanon mountains. The Bekka Valley has
been of strategic importance in the Syrian
struggle for control of N Lebanon. In the
early 1980s the valley was penetrated by Shia
Muslims who established an extremist
Hezbollah stronghold with the support of
Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Zahle and the
ancient city of Baalbek are the chief towns.