The Hasbani was included in the
Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan, proposed in 1955 by special US envoy
Eric Johnston. Under the plan, Lebanon was allocated usage of 35 million mcm annually from it. The plan was rejected by the
Arab League. Instead, at the 2nd Arab summit conference in
Cairo of January 1964 the League decided that
Syria, Lebanon and Jordan would begin a
water diversion project. Syria started the construction of canal to divert the flow of the
Banias River away from Israel and along the slopes of the
Golan toward the
Yarmouk River. Lebanon was to construct a canal from the Hasbani River to Banias and complete the scheme. The project was to divert 20 to 30 million cubic metres of water from the river Jordan tributaries to Syria and Jordan for the development of Syria and Jordan. This led to
military intervention from Israel, first with tank and artillery fire and then, as the Syrians shifted the works further eastward, with airstrikes. Utilization of water resources in the area, including the Hasbani, has been a source of conflict and was one of the factors leading to the 1967
Six-Day War. In 2001, the Lebanese government installed a small pumping station with a 10 cm bore to extract water to supply Ghajar village. In March 2002 Lebanon also diverted part of the Hasbani to supply Wazzani village. An action that
Ariel Sharon said was a "
casus belli" and could lead to war. The
Mekorot Water Company Ltd. of Israel has permitted recreational activity (
kayaking) on a stretch of the Hasbani in the north. == Nahal Snir Nature Reserve ==