Nahr al-Kabir al-Janoubi (Arabic for the southern great river, النهر الكبير الجنوبي) is a river in the Middle East flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. The river flows through the Homs Gap.
The river forms the northern end of the border between modern day Lebanon and Syria. The river was known in ancient times as the Eleutherus.[1] (Eleutheros, Eleuteris) and is referred to as such in the apocryphal 1 Maccabees 11:7 and 12:30. In English, it is also known as the Nahr el-Kebir or simply as the Kebir.