Populated area : 1 million square meters
Saghbine is located in the West Bekaa, about 73 km away from Lebanon's capital Beirut.
Origins of the name
There are many possibilites that provide meaning to the name Saghbine. The
first one would be the name of a tribe from the root "SAGHB" while the
second possibility is the use of the arabic letter "seen" instead of the present
"sawd" in the name therefore meaning "hunger" which alludes to the famines
during the Ottoman rule.
As a historical note, it is important to mention that one of the "Walis" of Hasbaya borrowed a substantial amount of money from Ali Jounblat to buy a big state and headed with the sum to Istanbul. When the Wali was awarded an immense state extending from present-day Syria to Safad in Palestine, he rewarded Ali Jounblat with the Bekaa West up to the hills of Jezzine and Saghbine was situated within the boarders of this area to which people started to emigrate from Hawran and other cities.
Some of Saghbine's families include:
Abou Hamad, Abou Chehade, Abou Sawan, Al-Baalbaki, Al-Ten, Khouri, Kharaziye, Roufayel, Zihri, Serhal, Salem, Chedid, Sawan, Safi, Al-Ajami, Aoun, Ghanem, Farhat, Meghazli, Massaad, Maher, Masroua, Meawad, Bannous, Matta, Moussa, Mahfouz, Nahas, Ghareb, Fadel, Kenaan, Abou-Eid.
Day of the vote
The day of the vote in Saghbine for the election of the municipal council and the mayors was extremely peaceful further to the constitution by M.P. Robert Ghanem of a list of members duly representative of the villagers even minorities. The villagers of Saghbine expressed their hopes that this elected council would represent a democratic model with a commitment to further Saghbine's name as a village proud of its civilized inhabitants, embracing justice and truth.
Members of the municipality council 2002
Georges Boulos El-Khouri - President
Nasib Aref Massaad - Vice-president
Georges Massaad Ghanem
Nabil Chafic Chedid
Khalil Tanios Moussa
Mounir Fouad Serhal
Tanios Michel Abou Hamad
Afif Boutros Massaad
Badih Moussa Aoun
Rizkallah Habib Abou-Chehade
Chikri Elia Al-Khouri
Abdallah Joseph Salem
Joseph Jiryos Al-Ajami
Khalil Elias Al-Nahas
Fares Youssef Mahfouz
Mayors
Georges Tanios Aoun
Najm Masroua
Saghbine's mayor Georges Tanios Aoun was born in Saghbine in 1936. He is married to Wardi Aoun and has three daughters: Scarlette, Hanan and Suzanne. He completed a high school diploma and is retired from the Lebanese Army. He performs his mayoral duties all year long and can be reached at 08/670162.
Saghbine's mayor Najm Masroua was born in Saghbine in 1939. He is married to Amale Abou-Kheir and has two sons: Walid and Halim. He completed a high school diploma and is retired from the Lebanese General Security Corps. He performs his mayoral duties all year long and can be reached at 08/670207.
Both mayors were acclaimed to the mayoral positions based on general consensus among all villagers.
