Tripoli

Tripoli or Tarabulus , ancient Tripolis, city (1996 est. pop. 300,000), NW Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea. Citrus fruits, cotton, and other goods are exported from Tripoli. It has an oil refinery and is the terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq. It was probably founded after 700 BC, as there is no mention of it until Persian times when it was the capital of the Phoenician federation of Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus and was divided into three sections. The city flourished under the Seleucid and Roman empires. In AD 638 it was captured by the Arabs. After a long siege it was taken (1109) by the Crusaders; during the siege its great library was destroyed. Tripoli was sacked by the sultan of Egypt in 1289 and was later rebuilt. The British conquered it from the Turks in 1918, and it became part of Lebanon in 1920. The old part of the city, around the harbor, contains the remains of fortified towers and walls. The city's population is comprised largely of Sunni Muslims. Tripoli was the scene of heavy fighting during the 1975-76 civil war. It became the headquarters for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. In the wake of rebellion against the PLO in 1983, large numbers of Palestinian rebels fled the city. Syrian military forces began to move into the city in the mid-1980s; like Beirut, it became a Lebanese city marked by battles for hegemony.

Tripoli (Tarabulus) Capital and chief port of Libya, on the Mediterranean Sea. The city was founded as Oea in the 7th century bc by the Phoenicians and was developed by the Romans. From the 7th century ad, the Arabs developed Tripoli as a market centre for the trans-Saharan caravans. In 1551, it was captured by the Ottoman Turks. In the 17th century, Tripoli was a notorious base for pirates. In 1911, it was made capital of the Italian colony of Libya, and during World War 2 it functioned as an important base for Axis forces. After intensive Allied bombing in 1941–42, Britain captured the city in 1943. In 1986, the US Air Force bombed Tripoli in retaliation for Libya's alleged support of worldwide terrorism. The city is the commercial, industrial, transport and communications centre of Libya. The oases comprise the most fertile agricultural area in n Africa. Pop. (2002 est.) 1,223,300.

Tripoli (Tarabulus) Mediterranean port and second-largest city in Lebanon. Tripoli was an important city of the Seleucid and Roman Empires. In ad 638, it was captured by the Arabs. In 1109, the city was conquered by the Crusaders, who developed the city's fortifications. In 1289, Tripoli returned to Islamic rule under the Egyptian Mamluks. The Turks held the city until the arrival of the British in 1918, and in 1920 it became a Lebanese city. It suffered severe damage during the 1975–76 Lebanese civil war. The city remains an important centre for trade between Syria and Lebanon, and is the terminus of the oil pipeline from Iraq. Industries: oil refining, textiles, food processing. Pop. (2002 est.) 208,700.