“In unity there is strength”, Under this slogan, a number of municipalities in Marjayoun district met to create a union that unites their common goals and unifies their future vision towards the development of their border villages that have been overlooked by government policies for decades, hoping to compensate for some of this deprivation through their own efforts, especially since these border villages are located in a region that lives in permanent instability.

The region has historically suffered poverty and persecution due to repeated attacks resulting from the brutal Israeli occupation, which led to a great human drain, which negatively reflected on the developmental reality of the region and delayed the development process in it. Most of these towns were recently liberated from the Israeli occupation in May 2000, where municipal work began after the official establishment of the municipalities.

Some al-Ittihad villages are considered among the eighty pockets of poverty identified by the Social Development Strategy in Lebanon in 2005, and in general, al-Ittihad villages are ranked fourth at the bottom of the map of living conditions in Lebanon. Accordingly, Udaysa, Taybeh, Markaba, Qabrikha, Talusa, Adsheit, Deir Sariyan, Rab Thalayn, Qantara, Majdal Selm and Houla came together to form the “Union of Municipalities of Jabal Amel” which came into existence on 9-11-2006.