Definition: Mount Sannin, known in Arabic as Jabal Sannin, is the second-highest peak of the Mount Lebanon mountain range, which forms the country's dorsal fin from north to south.

The mountain range was once covered in cedars, but over the millenniums Phoenicians, Egyptians, Romans and Byzantines tore them down to build ships, temples, churches and palaces. Sannin today is a barren, though majestic, gray-white mountain in summer.


It is entombed in several feet of snow from autumn to winter and boasts some of the Middle East's best (and only) ski slopes, especially near Faraya.

Mount Sannin, visible from Beirut on the Lebanese coast on a clear day, rises 8,842 feet, or 2,695 meters. The highest peak in the Mount Lebanon range, however, Qurnet el-Souda, rises further north, near The Cedars, to 10,131 feet, or 3,088 meters. The mountain chain falls precipitously to the east, falling into Lebanon's Bekaa Valley before its echo--the Anti-Lebanon mountain range that roughly coincides with the Syrian border--rises again to similar, but less noble-looking, heights.

Also Known As: Jabal Sannin