Mleeta Museum

The Mleeta Museum or Mleeta Landmark (Tourist Landmark of the Resistance) is an exhibition owned by Hezbollah in Lebanon, situated in the mountainous and forested region known as Iqlim al-Tuffah in southern Lebanon. The museum takes its name from a mountain of the same name, which served as a strategic location for Hezbollah fighters during Lebanon's occupation until its liberation in 2000 and during the 33-day war in 2006. The museum established in 2010 and covers an area of 60,000 square meters, with a built-up area of 5,000 square meters. It includes various sections displaying captured Israeli army equipment and war spoils.

General Introduction

The Mleeta Museum, situated in southern Lebanon, showcases the resistance of Hezbollah fighters against Israel from the outset of the Beirut occupation in 1982 to the liberation of Lebanon in 2000, and during the 33-day war in 2006. Located in a strategically positioned mountainous and forested area, it served as a frontline of Islamic resistance. Lebanese fighters were stationed there throughout the period of Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon until its liberation in 2000.

The museum, situated in the heights of Iqlim al-Tuffah, encompasses underground tunnels, bunkers, and equipment used by Hezbollah fighters, as well as captured Israeli weaponry and destroyed tanks. It also features the bunker and prayer area of Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, a section dedicated to martyrs, a meeting room, and a cinema hall. The hall housing spoils and classified information obtained from Israelis is located within the forested area of the exhibition.

Reason for Appellation

"Mleeta" is a Syriac word meaning "full." The site was named Mleeta after the mountain it is situated on, where resistance fighters were stationed throughout the years of the Israeli occupation till the year 2000 when most parts of Lebanon were liberated.

Geographic Location

Mleeta site is 82 km from Beirut, the capitol, 37 km from the city of Saida, and roughly 90 km from the Lebanese-Syrian ‘al Masnaa’ border point, and 45 km from the borders with Occupied Palestine. The height of Mleeta reaches 1060 meters above sea level.

Founding

The initial concept for the Mleeta Tourist Center was introduced by an architecture student in 2000 at the University of Lebanon. The aim was to establish a cultural tourism hub named the "Resilient Cultural Intellectual Complex" in the al-Tuffah region of southern Lebanon. Following this, a team of engineers, artists, and specialists collaborated on the project, overseeing its construction and eventual completion within a square-shaped compound. The museum, operating under the slogan "The land speaks to the heavens," commenced its operations with the mission of relaying the stories of the earth's inhabitants, heroes, and martyrs to those in the heavens. The logo for the center was designed by Iranian artist Mas'ud Nijabati.

An area of 60000 square meters of parks and bushy lands, 4500 square meters of built spaces overseen by over 50 architects and engineers and 40 specialists, all formed an active workgroup from all over Lebanon.

Sections

The Mleeta site consists of various diverse sections:

• Mleeta Souvenirs or Gift Shop: a corner selling gifts and special souvenirs.

• Hall Room: a multipurpose hall mainly used to show films about the resistance and for various activities and seminars.

• Exhibition: some 350 square meters exhibiting war booties and Israeli military equipment won over by the resistance since the beginning of its conflict with the enemy

• Abyss: an assembled scenic landscape stretching over 3500 square meters and symbolizing the Zionist entity’s defeat. It was composed utilizing a number of vehicles, armored vehicles, weapons of the enemy’s army and the Lahd collaborating army won over by the resistance as of 1982 till the July 2006 war. Centering the Abyss is a Mirkava-4 Tank, the pride of the Israeli military industry, half-buried in the ground with its cannon fastened signifying defeat, and the break-down of the sophisticated Israeli military machinery, faced with the resistance willpower and steadfast faith.

• The Path: a rugged bushy area where thousands of mujahidin were posted during the years of occupation.

• The Cave: a point that the resistance built inside Mleeta to secure the fighters from facing Israeli enemy outposts. An excess of a thousand resistance fighters took shifts over a period of three years, digging and fortifying the 200-meter-deep cave with several rooms and various equipment, allowing more than 7000 resistance fighters to take shelter inside.

• The Outlook: It is a lush, forested area overlooking the villages of al-Tuffah, Zahrani, Saida, and Tyre, and it was liberated by the resistance forces in 1985.

• Line of Fire: In this section, along a 200-meter steep pathway, various resistance weapons are showcased, depicting the evolution of their military infrastructure from inception to the present day.

• Freedom Square: Main square serving as a gathering point for visitors with access to site divisions.

• Martyrs Hill: a new area created at the summit of Mleeta in order to represent martyrdom and martyrs while overlooking several former Israeli enemy outposts and a vast part of the lands that were liberated in 2000.

• The Well: resistance fighters used the water of this well for many years (to drink and perform Wudu') despite the fact that its water would murk for several months each year because its source was the accumulation of torrential waters.

• Administrative Building: consists of administrative offices and a guests’ salon, a prayer room, a restaurant, a car parking area, and a clinic.