Rashaya Citadel, also called the Citadel of Independence, overlooks Wadi al-Taym and the slopes of Mount Hermon in Lebanon's western Bekaa. Its national importance comes from eleven days in November 1943, when French Mandate authorities detained President Bechara El Khoury, Prime Minister Riad El Solh and other political leaders there after parliament moved to remove mandate restrictions from the constitution.
The arrests provoked strikes and protests across Lebanon. The detainees were released on 22 November 1943, the date observed as Lebanese Independence Day. Rooms associated with their imprisonment survive inside the complex, turning the fort from a distant symbol into a place where visitors can examine the physical setting of a decisive political confrontation.
