Jezzine (Jezzine), 22 km from Saidon (Saida, Sidon), is the most famous summer and touristic resort of South Lebanon because of its beautiful landscape and its 40m high waterfalls. Vital public facilities contributed in making Jezzine the most important town in the area.

The town is located on the slopes of Tumat Niha and is surrounded with pine forests, vineyards and orchards. From the top of the huge rocky promontory known as al Shir, the visitor enjoys a breathtaking view of the surrounding localities scattered in the midst of a fertile plain and protected by mountains.

In the valley is a natural cave known as the Fakhreddine Cave because the Lebanese Emir took refuge there to escape Ottoman persecution. While his father Qurqumaz hid and died in this cave, Fakhreddine was caught and taken to Istanbul.

After Fakhreddine the Great was forced to abandon the impregnable cave castle of Shaqif Tiron Niha because of the poisoning of its underground water supply, in 1635, the Prince made his way over dangerous mountain paths along the Cliffside, in the dead of the night, to the foot of the famous waterfall of Jezzine, some 6 kilometers to the south..

Here a local guide was procured to conduct the small party of faithful retainers, who did not abandon the great prince in the days of his adversity, up an even more difficult path that led north along the face of the cliff to the fateful grotto where the sovereign's father, the Emir Qurqumaz ibn Fakhreddine, had met his unhappy end, also hunted by the Turks, in the late 16th Century.

At the end of this path, no less difficult and dangerous today than it was three centuries ago, is a narrow ledge overgrown with brambles and infested with serpents, who emerged from the entrance of the gloomy cavern to sun themselves amid the limestone crevices.

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