Tripoli, Lebanon

Tripoli is the most populous city in northern Lebanon and the second-most populous city in the nation overall. It is the administrative centre of the North Governorate and the Tripoli District, and it is located 85 kilometres (53 miles) north of the capital Beirut. Tripoli, Lebanon's northernmost seaport, is situated on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, overlooking the city of Tripoli. It is home to a series of four tiny islands off the coast of Lebanon, which are the only islands in the country. They were designated as a protected area because they provide a refuge for endangered loggerhead turtles (Chelona mydas), rare monk seals, and migrating birds, all of which are threatened by extinction. Tripoli shares a border with the city of El Mina, which serves as the port for the Tripoli District, with which it is physically united to create the larger Tripoli metropolitan area.

Tripoli has a long and illustrious history that goes back to at least the 14th century BCE. The city is well-known for housing the Mansouri Great Mosque as well as the Citadel of Raymond de Saint-Gilles, which is the largest Crusader fortress in Lebanon and has the second highest concentration of Mamluk architecture in the world after Cairo, and it has the second highest concentration of Mamluk architecture in the world after Cairo.

Tripoli is often referred to as Arbulus al-Sham or Levantine Tripoli in the Arab world in order to differentiate it from its Libyan equivalent, which is referred to as Tripoli-of-the-West.