Officially, Ainata is considered a village of the Baalbek District, but it is sometimes considered a village of the Bsharri District, mostly because its name "Ainata-Al Ariz" means "Ainata-The Cedars", in reference to the Cedars of God near Bsharri.
During the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990), Bsharri was a bastion of Christian resistance against first the Palestinians and the Syrians.
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Bsharri is the town of the only remaining (preserved) Original Cedars of Lebanon (Cedrus libani), and is the birthplace of the famous poet, painter and sculptor Khalil Gibran who now has a museum in the town to honor him.
To this was added in 1973 another commando platoon (Arabic: Maghaweer) and a “Combat School” was secretly opened at Tabrieh, near Bsharri in the Keserwan District; another special unit, the “Bashir Gemayel brigade” – named after Pierre Gemayel’s youngest son, Bashir – was formed in the following year, absorbing the old “PG” company in the process.