Lebanon

Overview

International Name: Republic of Lebanon
The Capital: Beirut

Population:
3,439,000 (1992)  Age 0-14: 37.0 %
3,620,395 (1994)  Age 15-59: 55.1 %
3,695,921 (1995)  Age 60+: 7.9 %

Density:
856 per sq mi (1993)
856 per sq mi (1993)
936 per sq mi (1995)

Growth Rate: 1.98% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 27.89 births/1,000

Death rate: 6.55 deaths/1,000 population.

Infant mortality rate: 38.0 deaths/1,000 live.

Life expectancy at birth:
Male: .67.00 years (1995)
Female:72.00 years (1995)

Total fertility rate: 3.39 children born/woman.

Ethnic divisions: Arab 95%, Armenian 4%,other1%

Area: 10,452 Sq/Km

Languages: Arabic is the official language, but French, English are well spken in Lebanon.

Electricity: Both 220 and 110 are used. Sockets are 2-pin round plugs.

Weights and measures: Metric system.

Business hours:
Government offices: 8am-2pm Mon to Sat; 8am-11am Friday.
Banks: 8:30am-12:30pm Mon to Sat.
Shops and commercial business: 9am-6pm Mon to Sat. Many stores keep later hours and open on Sunday as well.
Week-Ends: Saturday and sunday.

International dialling code, area codes and time zone :
International code: +961
Local Area Codes: Beirut 01 - Mt. Lebanon 04 - Kisriwan 09-North 05 - South 06 -
Time Zone: GMT + 2 hours.

The Lebanese Flag: The Lebanese flag is divided into three wide, horizontal stripes with red on top and bottom, and a wider white stripe in the middle. In the center of this white stripe is a green cedar tree, the emblem of the country.

Government: Lebanon is a Democratic Republic, with a parliamentary system of government and a cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. Its constitution is based on the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers, with a President elected for a six year term. The 128 Members of Parliament are elected by universal adult suffrage for a four year term.

Currency and Banking: The monetary unit is the Lebanese pound(LL). With currency Notes issued in LL50, LL100, LL250, LL500, LL1,000, LL5,000, LL10,000, LL20,000, LL50,000 and LL100,000 denominations. Coins are now issued in LL100, LL250 and LL500 denominations. More than eighty banks operate in the country and transactions are performed efficiently and at low cost.

Official Holidays:
New Year's Day: January 1
Martyrs' Day: May 6
All Saints Day: .November 1
Al-Fitr: (three days)
Independence Day: .November 22
Al Adha: (three days)
Christmas: December 25
Al Ashoura
The Prophet Mohammad's Birthday

Islamic holidays: The main ones are Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Ramadan, the month when Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset, and Eid al-Adha which marks the end of the pilgrimage to Makkah. Shiite Muslims observe the anniversary of the Martyr Hussein, and all Muslims celebrate the Islamic New Year.

Christian holidays:
Christmas, Easter and New Year.

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History

Let 's go back in history and have a look at one of the oldest civilization in the world. Lebanon has a rich history. From its geographical position Lebanon was the center of the ancient world. So many civilizations had foot in the eastern region of the Mediterranean sea, from the Phoenicians to the Romans then the Ottoman Empire, and the French colonist. History was written on rocks, in the "Ourjouan" (purple) color, in the Alphabet, under the old ruins, by pen, by stories and myths, legends of the old world, in the heart of kings or "amir" (prince), by art and music, architecture and science, poets and writers, in the cedars and in the echoing sounds of the mountains and deep valleys, by all religions and wars, by love and piece !!!

The Phoenicians:
We go back to the long and often turbulent history of Lebanon 3,500 years ago, back to the dawn of civilisation. Its earliest settlers were the Phoenicians. They established great cities at Beirut, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, and Baalbek and spread their 22-letter Phoenician alphabet throughout the eastern of the mediterranean sea . Canaanites settled the coast of what is now called Lebanon and established independent trading cities around 3,000 B.C. Phoenicia is a Greek term applied to the coast of Lebanon. Because the location at the intersection of land and sea routes linking the ancient world, Phoenicia became famous as a commercial center. Phoenicians discovered and used the North Star (Polaris) to keep their bearings at sea. They were the first ones to sail around Africa. They colonized parts of Cyprus and Rhodes and crossed the Black Sea. They founded Tarshish on the coast of Spain and Carthage in North Africa. Among the items they exported were cedar, pine, fine linen, embroideries, metalwork, glass, wine, salt and dried fish. The country imported papyrus for paper, ivory, ebony, silk, amber, ostrich eggs, spices, incense, horses, gold, silver, copper, iron, tin and jewels. Cedar was very important in the ancient Middle East, which had little wood. The fragrant cedar was much prized. The Egyptian Pharoah Tutankhamen had furniture in his tomb made of Phoenician cedar. Ancient Phoenicia also produced the rare purple dye that came from a special snail. Purple became the color or royalty. Needing some way to keep track of their commerce, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet, which the Greeks later adapted for their language and which in some ways shaped the English alphabet.

"'Phoenicia' and 'Phoenician' are somewhat artificial terms which were applied by the classical authors to the city-states of the narrow coastal strip that corresponds roughly to northern Lebanon, and the inhabitants who occupied them, from 1200 BC onwards. Their main cities were Tyre, Sidon and Byblos on the coast of Lebanon. The Greek word from which 'Phoenicia' derived meant 'purple', and was a translation of the name 'Canaan' which may have had some etymological connection with the purple dye produced from local murex shellfish for which the region was famous.

"The Phoenicians were an enigmatic people, who left little in the way of written records. Much of what we know of them from ancient times was recorded by Greek and Roman historians who mentioned their seamanship and shrewd business dealings. It was Napoleon III who put modern historians in touch with the Phoenicians. While subduing a revolt in Syria, he called upon the French scholar, Ernest Renan, to lead an expedition to the area, much as Napoleon the Great had one some fifty years earlier when he brought a group of scholars to Egypt during his campaign." - Pat Rremler

Because of Renan's interest in Semitic languages, he was particularly keen on investigating the site of Byblos. In addition to being a major Phoenician port the name held linguistic implications. "Byblos" the Greek word for paprus, lead to "biblion" or book, which lead to "bible." Renan was pursuing an Old Testament reference, "Gebel," which was the Semitic name for Byblos. The trail ultimately lead to nothing for Renan's linguistic research, but during the investigation he found several granite slabs covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs, and a bas relief which he believed to be the goddess Hathor. The relief was, in fact, Baalat-Gobal the Phoenician earth-mother goddess. -Pat Remler

This find was the beginning of the rediscovery of ancient Phoenicia. Later more extensive excavations produced a series of semi-intact royal tombs that yielded a glimpse of Phoenician treasure, including vessels of gold, silver, and obsidian, sandals and breastplates of gold, and an array of royal paraphernalia. The most important find, however, was an inscription in the Phoenician alphabet on an elaborate sarcophagus: "This coffin was made by Ithobaal, the son of Ahiram, King of Byplos, as the eternal resting place for his father. If any ruler or governor or general attacks Byblos and touches this coffin, his sceptre will be broken...." This discovery in l922 touched off a wave of excavation in Byblos and a renewed interest in the origin of the Phoenicians.- Pat Remler.

The Phoenicians called themselves Canaanites, and modern researchers tell us they were the descendants of two groups, the early Canaanites who inhabited the coast of Lebanon, and the Sea People who invaded Lebanon about l200 B.C. The early Canaanites had a limited ship building technology, sailing only flat bottomed barges that hugged the shore. The invading Sea People, some of whom stayed on, introduced among other things, a much more sophisticated maritime technology. Thus their descendants, the Phoenicians, appeared on the scene with an established maritime tradition, and the technology to build ships with a keeled hull. This allowed them to sail the open seas, and as a result, the Phoenicians developed a flourishing sea trade. They settled along the coast of Lebanon, in a loose federation of city states that were built on islands of rocky promontories which provided natural harbors for ship building and trade. The cities, Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Arqad, studded the seacoast like jewels, and their wealth became legendary. At the height of their trading empire, they imported copper from Cyprus; linen from Egypt; ivory from India; tin from Spain; horses from Anatolla; and peacocks from Africa. They became famous for their highly prized purple dye extracted from the murex snail, and for the fine timber cut from their forests. - Pat Remler.

Their major cultural contribution was their alphabet. It consisted of 22 consonants, and was the foundation of our English alphabet, and it was the core for Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac script. - Pat Remler.

"The Phoenicians did not suddenly arrive upon the historical scene as invaders or immigrants. They were Canaanites, and cannot be differentiated either ethnically or culturally from the general mass of Canaanites. They just happened to be the survivors of the havoc that overwhelmed the eastern Mediterranean at the start of the Iron Age around 1200 BC, with the onslaught of the Sea Peoples, the collapse of the Hittite empire, the disintegration of Mycenaean power, and the destruction of the great coastal cities of Ugarit, Aradus and Sidon." - Magnus Magnusson, BC - The Archaeology of the Bible Lands

"Phoenician ritual is illustrated by an alabaster statuette from Tutugi (Galera), near Granada in Spain. From its artistic style it must be eastern of the seventh or sixth century BC, but the tomb in which it was found was perhaps not earlier than the fourth. It represents Astarte seated on a throne flanked by sphinxes. She holds a large bowl outstretched under her breasts, which are pierced. This is clearly a miracle-working statuette, which at an appropriate time in the cult ceremony enabled milk to flow through the breasts into the bowl from a hollow that would be filled through the head. Until the miracle was to happen the holes in the breasts were blocked with wax, or other material, removable by gentle heating." -Donald Harden, The Phoenicians

"'Phoenician' means 'red haired'. The Phoenicians and the Carthaginians expanded all across North Africa and western Europe. They pushed past the Straits of Gibraltar and founded the city of Gades (present day Cadiz) in Spain. While active in Spain, these Phoenician/Carthaginian descendants are called 'Celtiberians' by archaeologists. Later, some sailed away from Spain and colonized the British Isles, where they are simply called 'Celts' by archaeologists. In their migrations throughout the Mediterranean, these Celts picked up a number of different languages and alphabets. These languages and writing systems were in use by different Celtic groups at different times. Memories of some of these scripts were retained up until the medieval period in Ireland. The Book of Ballymote, believed to have been composed about 1200 A.D., gives an alphabet, described as 'African'. Until recently, scholars considered that this 'African' script was some sort of cryptic monkish secret alphabet, or maybe just gibberish, but since 1960 this alphabet has been shown to be an actual ancient North African one in use about 1000 B.C." [Fell, America B.C.] - Michael Bradley, Holy Grail Across the Atlantic

"Mention...of both the gens Hiernorum and the insula Albionum suggest that Himilco [c. 425 BC] did not stop at Brittany - the Oestrymnian promontory as he calls it - but passed on across the channel, and in effect led the way for Carthage to take part in the Cornish tin trade, which we may assume was already being exploited by Mediterranean traders via the overland route. There is, unfortunately, no direct archaeological evidence of Phoenician contacts with Britain at this period to support the Himilco story, though a number of Iron Age finds in Cornwall indicates Iberian contacts." - Donald Harden, The Phoenicians

"Following the breakdown of Aegean civilization, ca. 1200 B.C., central Europe developed a distinctive Late Bronze Age culture from which the Celts emerged. By about 700 B.C. the Hallstatt culture - the culture of the Celts - covered much of western Europe. It lasted into the fifth century B.C." - Barry Cunliffe, The Celtic World

The Phoenicians were skilled artisans noted for their fine crafts, often "borrowing" a basic idea or technology and improving on it. The craft of glass making was raised to a fine art by Phoenician artisans, and they may have been the first to develop blown glass. Their terra cotta vessels and pots often show a thoughtful refinement of shape, as do their votive statues. The Phoenicians worshipped a triad of deities, each having different names and attributes depending upon the city in which they were worshipped, although their basic nature remained the same.- Pat Remler.

The primary god was El, protector of the universe, but often called Baal. The son, Baal or Melqart, symbolized the annual cycle of vegetation and was associated with the female deity Astarte in her role as the maternal goddess. She was called Asherar-yam, our lady of the sea, and in Byblos she was Baalat, our dear lady. Astarte was linked with mother goddesses of neighboring cultures, in her role as combined heavenly mother and earth mother. Cult statues of Astarte in many different forms were left as votive offerings in shrines and sanctuaries as prayers for good harvest, for children, and for protection and tranquillity in the home. The Phoenician triad was incorporated in varying degrees by their neighbors and Baal and Astarte eventually took on the look of Greek deities. The Phoenicians reached the peak of their culture around l,000 B.C, when they had established trading colonies in Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, Africa and Spain, Their north African city of Carthage was founded about 800 B.C. and remained strong until the sack of the Romans in l46 B.C.. The great city states of Phoenicia ended with the fall of Tyre to the Babylonian king Nebuchandnezzar in 573 B.C.. The glory of the Phoenicians was in decline, when in 332 B.C. Alexander the Great conquered Tyre, and the remnants of the Phoenician culture were swept into the Hellenistic empire. - Pat Remler

The Greek and Roman Empire
Alexander the Great captured the city of Tyre in 332 B.C. after an eight-month siege. When the city fell, almost all its inhabitants were sold as slaves and Tyre lost its importance on the world stage. After Alexander's death, his empire -- the entire ancient civilized world -- was split among his generals.

The Roman Empire started expanding its powers into the Middle East. In the area known as The Levant. The Levant was already a prosperous trading colony and it was recognised as the gateway between the East and West. Spices, silks, dyes and precious stones were traded there. The Romans quickly recognised the strategic significance of places like Beirut, Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, both from commercial and military stand point. Soon the entire region became part of the Roman Empire.

Phoenicia came first under Ptolemaic control, then under Seleucid control. When the Seleucid dynasty fell to the Armenians, the rising empire of Rome stepped in and restored Seluecid control. When the Seleucids fell into anarchy, Rome assumed direct control. Rome incorporated Phoenicia as part of Syria. The obscure city of Berytus (Beirut) began rising to prominence after the Roman emperor Augustus granted it Roman colonial status and Herod the Great financed lavish building projects there.

During Roman rule, the Phoenician language died out and was replaced by Aramaic as the vernacular tongue. Greek became the language of literature. Important Lebanese writers included Philo of Byblos, Porphyry of Tyre and Iamblichus of Chalcis. Porphyry played a key role in spreading Neo-platonic philosophy, which later influenced pagan and Christian thought. Under Roman rule, Berytus (Beirut) became the most famous provincial school of Roman law. Two of Rome's most famous jurists, Papinian and Ulpian, were natives of Lebanon and taught as professors of law in the school. Their opinions took up more than a third of the compilation of Roman law commissioned by the emperor Justinian I in the 6th century A.D. Berytus' importance in Rome lasted until a series of earthquakes, a tidal wave, and fire in the mid-6th century destroyed it.

In 608-609, Persian King Khosrow II pillaged Syria and Lebanon. Between 622 and 629, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius won back the territory. But then in the 630s, Arabs who were members of the new religion of Islam conquered Palestine and Lebanon. The old Phoenician cities offered only token resistance to this new conqueror.

After a succession of different rulers, the Phoenicians became part of the Roman Empire in 64 BC when Pomey the Great conquered the territory of modern Lebanon and governed it as part of the province of Syria.

AChristianity was firmly ramaic replaced Phoenician as the main language and by the 4th century established. During the early years of the Christian era, when theological differences bred numerous break-away sects, Lebanon became a refuge for religious minorities fleeing persecution. In the 7th century, the Christian sect that was later to become the Maronite church settled in the northern districts of the Lebanese Mountains to avoid conversion to Islam. The geographical inaccessibility that made Lebanon attractive as a religious refuge also appealed to Muslims; the Shiites found a haven there during the 9th century and the Druzes in the 11th century. The mosaic of differing beliefs in Lebanon gave each religious group a certain amount of autonomy in specific areas, but hampered unity for the region as a whole.

"Plutarch (A.D. 46-120), a priest of the Pythian Apollo at Chaeronia, Boeotia, wrote a treatise called On Isis and Osiris. During the Roman period Byblos was associated with Egypt in myth and ritual. This was seen in the myth of Isis and Osiris. The Byblian episodes of this myth appear nowhere in native Egyptian literature of any period and were obviously added to the myth in the Hellenistic age as part of the general syncretism of this age. In Plutarch's account the search by Isis for Osiris' body brought her to the shores of Byblos." - Nina Jidejian, Byblos Through the Ages

Some of the inhabitants of Byblos maintain that the Egyptian Osiris is buried in their town, and that the public mourning and secret rites are performed in memory not of Adonis but of Osiris. I will tell you why this story seems worthy of credence. A human head comes every year from Egypt to Byblos, floating on its seven days' journey thence; it never varies from its course but goes straight to Byblos. The whole occurrence is miraculous. It occurs every year, and it came to pass while I was myself in Byblos, and I saw the head in that city." - Lucian, The Syrian Goddess

"Herodotus (4.42) says that the Pharaoh Necho II, who reigned c. 615-595 B.C., determined to see if Africa could be circumnavigated. Accordingly, he commissioned a number of ships manned by Phoenicians for the task. These sailed down the Red Sea and down the east coast of Africa. Every year they settled for a while on the coast, cleared a strip of land, planted a crop and, when they had harvested it, continued on their journey. In the third year they sailed through the Pillars of Hercules and back to Egypt again. They reported that as they sailed around Africa they had the sun on their right. Herodotus refuses to believe this possible 'but perhaps others may.' For us of course this is conclusive proof that such a voyage was made. It is another instance of how Herodotus' dedication to recording exactly what he had heard, irrespective of whether he believed it or not, has given proof of an event which he described.

"Herodotus (4.43) also mentions a Carthaginian called Sataspes, who, because he had used violence against a maiden, was given a choice by the Great King Xerxes of being impaled on a stake or of sailing around Africa. He elected to attempt the circumnavigation but lost heart after many months at sea. He returned to 'civilisation' and reported that 'at the farthest point he had reached, the coast was occupied by a dwarfish race' and 'whenever he landed, they left their towns and fled to the mountains; but his men did them no wrong, only entering into their cities and taking some of their cattle. The reason why he had not sailed around Libya was, he said, because the ship stopped and would not go any further. Xerxes however did not believe this and Sataspes was impaled by the king's orders in accordance with the former sentence."

"Sataspes may have reached Cape Palmas. He may have been caught in the doldrums off the Cape Verde coast of Senegal and hence unable to proceed further. Some of the Arab voyagers down the west coast of Africa in medieval times reported that at a certain stage they could go no further.

"Herodotus and possibly Hanno report dwarves in West Africa. Sataspes' dwarves have been identified as early Bushmen, still found in South Africa but which may have been found further north 2500 years ago. Pygmies were also found in the Cameroons." - Ciaran Branigan, "The Ciccumnavigation of Africa"

Rule of Alexander the Great
The Persian Empire eventually fell to Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia. He attacked Asia Minor, defeated the Persian troops in 333 B.C., and advanced toward the Lebanese coast. Initially the Phoenician cities made no attempt to resist, and they recognized his suzerainty. However, when Alexander tried to offer a sacrifice to Melkurt, Tyre's god, the city resisted.

Alexander besieged Tyre in retaliation in early 332 B.C. After six months of resistance, the city fell, and its people were sold into slavery. Despite his early death in 323 B.C., Alexander's conquest of the eastern Mediterranean Basin left a Greek imprint on the area. The Phoenicians, being a cosmopolitan people amenable to outside influences, adopted aspects of Greek civilization with ease.

The Seleucid Dynasty
After Alexander's death, his empire was divided among his Macedonian generals. The eastern part--Phoenicia, Asia Minor, northern Syria, and Mesopotamia--fell to Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid dynasty. The southern part of Syria and Egypt fell to Ptolemy, and the European part, including Macedonia, to Antigonus I. This settlement, however, failed to bring peace because Seleucus I and Ptolemy clashed repeatedly in the course of their ambitious efforts to share in Phoenician prosperity. A final victory of the Seleucids ended a forty-year period of conflict.

The last century of Seleucid rule was marked by disorder and dynastic struggles. These ended in 64 B.C., when the Roman general Pompey added Syria and Lebanon to the Roman Empire. Economic and intellectual activities flourished in Lebanon during the Pax Romana. The inhabitants of the principal Phoenician cities of Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre were granted Roman citizenship. These cities were centers of the pottery, glass, and purple dye industries; their harbors also served as warehouses for products imported from Syria, Persia, and India. They exported cedar, perfume, jewelry, wine, and fruit to Rome. Economic prosperity led to a revival in construction and urban development; temples and palaces were built throughout the country, as well as paved roads that linked the cities.

Upon the death of Theodosius I in A.D. 395, the empire was divided in two: the eastern or Byzantine part with its capital at Constantinople, and the western part with its capital at Rome. Under the Byzantine Empire, intellectual and economic activities in Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon continued to flourish for more than a century. However, in the sixth century a series of earthquakes demolished the temples of Baalbek and destroyed the city of Beirut, leveling its famous law school and killing nearly 30,000 inhabitants. To these natural disasters were added the abuses and corruption prevailing at that time in the empire. Heavy tributes and religious dissension produced disorder and confusion. Furthermore, the ecumenical councils of the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. were unsuccessful in settling religious disagreements. This turbulent period weakened the empire and made it easy prey to the newly converted Muslim Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula.

Medieval Lebanon
The seeds of Lebanon's religious strife and civil war in the 20th century were planted during the Middle Ages. Christianity arrived in the 4th century A.D., while Lebanon was ruled by the eastern Roman Empire, whose capital was Byzantium. Most Lebanese Christians are members of the Maronite Church, founded by St. Maroon of Syria. The church follows the Roman Catholic religion but has its ownpriests.

Featuring an emphasis on conversion and expansion, the Muslims conquered Lebanon in the 7th century. A Sunni group, the Umayyads, gained control of Lebanon and ruled for 100 years. Then another Arab family, the Abbasids, gained control.

Christians took to the mountains to maintain their identity during this time of strong Muslim leadership. Under Arab rule, the language of Lebanon became Arabic.

Lebanon provided ships and sailors to the Umayyads, their rulers, in their wars with the Byzantines. Byzantium kept trying to gain parts of northern Lebanon.Crusading Christians from Europe wanted to recapture Israel, Christianity's birthplace, from the Muslims. During a series of attacks, the crusaders captured Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre in the early 1100s.

The Arab Conquest, 634-636
The followers of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, embarked on a movement to establish their religious and civil control throughout the eastern Mediterranean from their base in the Arabian Peninsula. Their determination to conquer other lands resulted both from economic necessity and from religious beliefs. Calling for a jihad (holy war) against non-Muslims, the Prophet's successor, Caliph Abu Bakr (632-34), brought Islam to the area surrounding Lebanon. Dividing his forces into three groups, he ordered one to move in the direction of Palestine, one toward Damascus, and one toward the Jordan River. The Arab groups under General Khalid ibn al Walid defeated the forces from in 636 at the Battle of Yarmuk in northwestern Jordan.

The Umayyads, 660-750
After the Battle of Yarmuk, Caliph Umar appointed the Arab Muawiyah, founder of the Umayyad dynasty, as governor of Syria, an area that included present-day Lebanon. Muawiyah garrisoned troops on the Lebanese coast and had the Lebanese shipbuilders help him construct a navy to resist any potential Byzantine attack. He also stopped raids by the Marada, a powerful people who had settled in the Lebanese mountains and who were used by the Byzantine rulers to prevent any Arab invasion that would threaten the Byzantine Empire. Concerned with consolidating his authority in Arabia and Iraq, Muawiyah negotiated an agreement in 667 with Constantine IV, the Byzantine emperor, whereby he agreed to pay Constantine an annual tribute in return for the cessation of Marada incursions. During this period some of the Arab tribes settled in the Lebanese and Syrian coastal areas.

The Abbasids, 750-1258
The Abbasids, founded by the Arab Abul Abbas, replaced the Umayyads in early 750. They treated Lebanon and Syria as conquered countries, and their harshness led to several revolts, including an abortive rebellion of Lebanese mountaineers in 759. By the end of the tenth century, the amir of Tyre proclaimed his independence from the Abbasids and coined money in his own name. However, his rule was terminated by the Fatimids of Egypt, an independent Arab Muslim dynasty.

The Crusades, 1095-1291
The occupation of the Christian holy places in Palestine and the destruction of the Holy Sepulcher by Caliph Al Hakim led to a series of eight campaigns, known as the Crusades, undertaken by Christians of western Europe to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. The first Crusade was proclaimed by Pope Urban II in 1095 at the Council of Clermont-Ferrand in France. After taking Jerusalem, the Crusaders turned their attention to the Lebanese coast. Tripoli capitulated in 1109; Beirut and Sidon, in 1110. Tyre stubbornly resisted but finally capitulated in 1124 after a long siege. Although they failed to establish a permanent presence, the Crusaders left their imprint on Lebanon. Among the conspicuous results of the Crusades, which ended with the fall of Acre in 1291, are the remains of many towers along the coast, ruins of castles on hills and mountain slopes, and numerous churches. Of all the contacts established by the Crusaders with the peoples of the Middle East, those with the Maronites of Lebanon were among the most enduring. They acquainted the Maronites with European influences and made them more receptive to friendly approaches from Westerners. During this period the Maronites were brought into a union with the Holy See, a union that survived in the late 1980s. France was a major participant in the Crusades, and French interest in the region and its Christian population dates to this period. Bitter conflicts among the various regional and ethnic groups in Lebanon and Syria characterized the thirteenth century. The Crusaders, who came from Europe, the Mongols, who came from the steppes of Central Asia, and the Mamluks, who came from Egypt, all sought to be masters in the area. In this hard and confused struggle for supremacy, victory came to the Mamluks.

The Mamluks, 1282-1516
The Mamluks were a combination of Turkoman slaves from the area east of the Caspian Sea and Circassian slaves from the Caucasus Mountains between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea. They were brought in by the Muslim Ayyubid sultans of Egypt to serve as their bodyguards. One of these slaves, Muez-Aibak, assassinated the Ayyubid sultan, Al Ashraf Musa, in 1252 and founded the Mamluk sultanate, which ruled Egypt and Syria for more than two centuries.

From the eleventh to the thirteenth century, the Shia Muslims migrated from Syria, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsula and to the northern part of the Biqa Valley and to the Kasrawan Region in the mountains northeast of Beirut. They and the Druzes rebelled in 1291 while the Mamluks were busy fighting European Crusaders and Mongols, but after repelling the invaders, the Mamluks crushed the rebellion in 1308. To escape from repression and massacres by the Mamluks, the Shias abandoned Kasrawan and moved to southern Lebanon. The Mamluks indirectly fostered relations between Europe and the Middle East even after the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The Europeans, accustomed to luxury items from the Middle East, strongly desired both its raw materials and its manufactured products, and the people of the Middle East wished to exploit the lucrative European market. Beirut, favored by its geographical location, became the center of intense trading activity. Despite religious conflicts among the different communities in Lebanon, intellectual life flourished, and economic prosperity continued until Mamluk rule was ended by the Ottoman Turks.

Impact of Arab Rule
Arab rule under the Umayyads and Abbasids had a profound impact on the eastern Mediterranean area and, to a great degree, was responsible for the composition of modern Lebanese society. It was during this period that Lebanon became a refuge for various ethnic and religious groups. The presence of these diverse, cohesive groups led to the eventual emergence of the Lebanese confessional state, whereby different religious communities were represented in the government according to their numerical strength. The ancestors of the present-day Maronites were among the Christian communities that settled in Lebanon during this period (see Christian Sects, ch. 2). To avoid feuds with other Christian sects in the area, these followers of Saint John Maron moved from the upper valley of the Orontes River and settled in the picturesque Qadisha Valley, located in the northern Lebanon Mountains, about twenty-five kilometers southeast of Tripoli.

Lebanon also became the refuge for a small Christian group called Melchites, living in northern and central Lebanon. Influenced by the Greek Christian theology of Constantinople, they accepted the controversial decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council of the church held in 451. As a result of missionary activity by the Roman Catholic Church, some were later drawn away from this creed and became known as Greek Catholics because Greek is the language of their liturgy. They lived mainly in the central part of the Biqa Valley.

During the Arab era, still another religious faith found sanctuary in Lebanon. After Al Hakim (996-1021), the Fatimid caliph of Egypt, proclaimed himself an incarnation of God, two of his followers, Hamza and Darazi, formulated the dogmas for his cult. Darazi left Egypt and continued to preach these tenets after settling in southern Lebanon. His followers became known as Druzes ; along with Christians and Muslims, they constitute major communities in modern Lebanon. Under the Abbasids, philosophy, literature, and the sciences received great attention, especially during the caliphate of Harun ar Rashid and that of his son, Al Mamun. Lebanon made a notable contribution to this intellectual renaissance. The physician Rashid ad Din, the jurist Al Awazi, and the philosopher Qusta ibn Luqa were leaders in their respective disciplines. The country also enjoyed an economic boom in which the Lebanese harbors of Tyre and Tripoli were busy with shipping as the textile, ceramic, and glass industries prospered. Lebanese products were sought after not only in Arab countries but also throughout the Mediterranean Basin.

In general, Arab rulers were tolerant of Christians and Jews, both of whom were assessed special taxes and were exempted from military service. Later, under the Ottoman Empire, the practice developed of administering non-Muslim groups as separate communities called millets. In the late-1980s, this system continued; each religious community was organized under its own head and observed its own laws pertaining to matters such as divorce and inheritance.

The Ottoman Rule
The Ottoman (modern-day Turkish) Empire rose between 1512 to 1520. They defeated the Mamluks in 1516-17 and added Lebanon to their empire. The Ottomans didn't interfere much withLebanon, content to let the local Maan family rule the country. The Manns were Druze, a branch off Muslim with secret beliefs.Under Fakhr al-Din, who began his reign in 1593, the Maans unified Lebanon's religious groups and Encouraged stronger ties with Europe. Al-Din kickstarted an independence movement. But the Ottomans found out about it and executed him in 1635.

The Ottomans then turned over the governing of Lebanon to the Shihabs, another family. But Bashir Shihab II allied himself with Egyptian leader Muhammad Ali Pasha, who kicked the Ottomans out of Lebanon in 1831. However, the Shihabs upped taxes and forced men to serve in the military. The Maronites and Druze revolted. In 1840, the Ottomans and British exiled Bashir Shihab II. As a way to squelch independence movements, the Ottomans encouraged the Christians and Druze to distrust and hate one another. In 1860 the Druze massacred the Maronites. When the Ottomans did nothing, the French intervened on behalf of the Maronites.

Then the Ottomans, with European help, installed a Christian governor appointed by the Ottoman sultan in 1861. This lasted until World War I, when the Ottomans took direct control of Lebanonfor the first time since they conquered it.

In World War I, the Ottoman Empire joined forces with Germany and Austria-Hungary in battling the Allied Forces of England, France and later, the United States. When the war ended, the Ottoman Empire was no more. The Allies put Lebanon under French control. The first Lebanese constitution went into effect in 1926.

The French Rule
At the end of World War I, the Allied forces put Lebanon under French military occupation. In 1923, the League of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations) formally gave Lebanon and Syria to France. The Maronite Christians, pro-French by tradition, welcomed this development. During the next 20 years, while France ruled, the Maronites were favo red.

However, the redefinition of Lebanon changed the demographic makeup of the country. Muslims and Christians were about equally divided, and many residents didn't want to be ruled by France or to be independent. They wanted to be part of a larger Syrian or Arab country. To ease tensions, the constitution provided that the president would normally be a Maronite, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of the chamber a Shi`ite Muslim. Under French rule, education, public utilities and communication improved. Beirut prospered as a trade center. As the middle class of Beirut grew, so did a frail sense of common national interest and a desire for more independence.

But France was having troubles at home. Its neighbor Germany had slipped into the rule of the Nazis. When France fell to Germany in 1940 during World War II, British and Free French tropps occupied Lebanon. These troops proclaimed Lebanon and Syria indepe ndent, but because their own status was so precarious, the Free French continued to occupy Lebanon.

In 1943, they allowed elections to take place. Under the new president, the legislature adopted changes in the constitution that did away with French influence. The French objected. On Nov. 11, 1943, the French arrested almost the entire Lebanese governme nt, leading to war. The British intervened, and the French restored the government and transferred power to it.

In 1945, after more insurrection and as World War II reached its climax, the British and French began withdrawing from Lebanon. By 1946, the withdrawal was complete, and Lebanon became officially independent.

WORLD WAR I AND THE FRENCH MANDATE, 1914-41
The outbreak of World War I in August 1914 brought Lebanon further problems, as Turkey allied itself with Germany and AustriaHungary . The Turkish government abolished Lebanon's semiautonomous status and appointed Jamal Pasha, then minister of the navy, as the commander in chief of the Turkish forces in Syria, with discretionary powers. Known for his harshness, he militarily occupied Lebanon and replaced the Armenian mutasarrif, Ohannes Pasha, with a Turk, Munif Pasha. In February 1915, frustrated by his unsuccessful attack on the British forces protecting the Suez Canal, Jamal Pasha initiated a blockade of the entire eastern Mediterranean coast to prevent supplies from reaching his enemies and indirectly caused thousands of deaths from widespread famine and plagues. Lebanon suffered as much as, or more than, any other Ottoman province. The blockade deprived the country of its tourists and summer visitors, and remittances from relatives and friends were lost or delayed for months. The Turkish Army cut down trees for wood to fuel trains or for military purposes. In 1916 Turkish authorities publicly executed twenty-one Syrians and Lebanese in Damascus and Beirut, respectively, for alleged anti-Turkish activities. The date, May 6, is commemorated annually in both countries as Martyrs' Day, and the site in Beirut has come to be known as Martyrs' Square. Relief came, however, in September 1918 when the British general Edmund Allenby and Faysal I, son of Sharif Husayn of Mecca, moved into Palestine with British and Arab forces, thus opening the way for the occupation of Syria and Lebanon. At the San Remo Conference held in Italy in April 1920, the Allies gave France a mandate over Greater Syria. France then appointed General Henri Gouraud to implement the mandate provisions.

The Mandate Period
On September 1, 1920, General Gouraud proclaimed the establishment of Greater Lebanon with its present boundaries and with Beirut as its capital. The first Lebanese constitution was promulgated on May 23, 1926, and subsequently amended several times; it was still in effect as of late 1987. Modeled after that of the French Third Republic, it provided for a unicameral
parliament called the Chamber of Deputies, a president, and a Council of Ministers, or cabinet. The president was to be elected by the Chamber of Deputies for one six-year term and could not be reelected until a six-year period had elapsed; deputies were to be popularly elected along confessional lines. The first and only complete census that had been held in Lebanon as of 1987 took place in 1932 and resulted in the custom of selecting major political officers according to the proportion of the principal sects in the population . Thus, the president was to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies a Shia Muslim. Theoretically, the Chamber of Deputies performed the legislative function, but in fact bills were prepared by the executive and submitted to the Chamber of Deputies, which passed them virtually without exception. Under the Constitution, the French high commissioner still exercised supreme power, an arrangement that initially brought objections from the Lebanese nationalists. Nevertheless, Charles Dabbas, a Greek Orthodox, was elected the first president of Lebanon three days after the adoption of the Constitution.
At the end of Dabbas's first term in 1932, Bishara al Khuri (also cited as Khoury) and Emile Iddi (also cited as Edde) competed for the office of president, thus dividing the Chamber of Deputies. To break the deadlock, some deputies suggested Shaykh Muhammad al Jisr, who was chairman of the Council of Ministers and the Muslim leader of Tripoli, as a compromise candidate. However, French high commissioner Henri Ponsot suspended the constitution on May 9, 1932, and extended the term of Dabbas for one year; in this way he prevented the election of a Muslim as president. Dissatisfied with Ponsot's conduct, the French authorities replaced him with Comte Damien de Martel, who, on January 30, 1934, appointed Habib as
Saad as president for a one-year term (later extended for an additional year).
Emile Iddi was elected president on January 30, 1936. A year later, he partially reestablished the Constitution of 1926 and proceeded to hold elections for the Chamber of Deputies. However, the Constitution was again suspended by the French high commissioner in September 1939, at the outbreak of World War II.

The Independence
Lebanon obtained its independence from the french rule on November 22, 1943. It is a founding member of the League of Arab States and of the United Nations and played an important role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Lebanese flag dates from the early days of independence and is composed of three horizontal stripes: red on the top and the bottom and white in the middle with a Cedar tree.

The form of government is a parliamentary democracy. The President of the Republic is elected by the Parliament for six years. The Speaker of Parliament is also elected by the Parliament but for four years, which is also the length of the period between parliamentary elections. The President of the Republic appoints the Prime Minister who forms a Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet must have the approval of the majority of deputies in Parliament.

World War II and Independence, 1939-41

After the Vichy government assumed power in France in 1940, General Henri-Fernand Dentz was appointed high commissioner of Lebanon. This appointment led to the resignation of Emile Iddi on April 4, 1941. Five days later, Dentz appointed Alfred Naqqash as head of state. The Vichy government's control ended a few months later when its forces were unable to repel the advance of French and British troops into Lebanon and Syria. An armistice was signed in Acre on July 14, 1941.

After signing the Acre Armistice, General Charles de Gaulle visited Lebanon, officially ending Vichy control. Lebanese national leaders took the opportunity to ask de Gaulle to end the French Mandate and unconditionally recognize Lebanon's independence. As a result of national and international pressure, on November 26, 1941, General Georges Catroux, delegate general under de Gaulle, proclaimed the independence of Lebanon in the name of his government. The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union, the Arab states, and certain Asian countries recognized this independence, and some of them exchanged ambassadors with Beirut. However, even though the French technically recognized Lebanon's independence, they continued to exercise authority.

General elections were held, and on September 21, 1943, the new Chamber of Deputies elected Bishara al Khuri aspresident. He appointed Riyad as Sulh (also cited as Solh) as prime minister and asked him to form the first government of independent Lebanon. On November 8, 1943, the Chamber of Deputies amended the Constitution, abolishing the articles that referred to the Mandate and modifying those that specified the powers of the high commissioner, thus unilaterally ending the Mandate. The French authorities responded by arresting a number of prominent Lebanese politicians, including the president, the prime minister, and other cabinet members, and exiling them to the Castle of Rashayya (located about sixty-five kilometers east of Sidon). This action united the Christian and Muslim leaders in their determination to get rid of the French. France, finally yielding to mounting internal pressure and to the influence of Britain, the United States, and the Arab countries, released the prisoners at Rashayya on November 22, 1943; since then, this day has been celebrated as Independence Day.

The ending of the French Mandate left Lebanon a mixed legacy. When the Mandate began, Lebanon was still suffering from the religious conflicts of the 1860s and from World War I. The French authorities were concerned not only with maintaining control over the country but also with rebuilding the Lebanese economy and social systems. They repaired and enlarged the harbor of Beirut and developed a network of roads linking the major cities. They also began to develop a governmental structure that included new administrative and judicial systems and a new civil code. They improved the education system, agriculture, public health, and the standard of living. Concurrently, however, they linked the Lebanese currency to the depreciating French franc, tying the Lebanese economy to that of France. This action had a negative impact on Lebanon. Another negative effect of the Mandate was the place given to French as a language of instruction, a move that favored Christians at the expense of Muslims.

The foundations of the new Lebanese state were established in 1943 by an unwritten agreement between the two most prominent Christian and Muslim leaders, Khuri and Sulh. The contents of this agreement, later known as the National Pact or National Covenant (al Mithaq al Watani), were approved and supported by their followers. The National Pact laid down four principles. First, Lebanon was to be a completely independent state. The Christian communities were to cease identifying with the West; in return, the Muslim communities were to protect the independence of Lebanon and prevent its merger with any Arab state. Second, although Lebanon is an Arab country with Arabic as its official language, it could not cut off its spiritual and intellectual ties with the West, which had helped it attain such a notable degree of progress. Third, Lebanon, as a member of the family of Arab states, should cooperate with the other Arab states, and in case of conflict among them, it should not side with one state against another. Fourth, public offices should be distributed proportionally among the recognized religious groups, but in technical positions preference should be given to competence without regard to confessional considerations. Moreover, the three top government positions should be distributed as follows: the president of the republic should be a Maronite; the prime minister, a Sunni Muslim; and the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, a Shia Muslim. The ratio of deputies was to be six Christians to five Muslims. From the beginning, the balance provided for in the National Pact was fragile. Many observers believed that any serious internal or external pressure might threaten the stability of the Lebanese political system, as was to happen in 1975.

Lebanon became a member of the League of Arab States (Arab League) on March 22, 1945. It also participated in the San Francisco Conference of the United Nations (UN) and became a member in 1945. On December 31, 1946, French troops were completely withdrawn from the country, with the signing of the Franco-Lebanese Treaty.

INDEPENDENT LEBANON, 1943-76
The history of Lebanon during the 1943-76 period was dominated by prominent family networks and patron-client relationships. Each sectarian community had its prominent family: the Khuris, Shamuns, Shihabs, Franjiyahs, and Jumayyils for the Maronites; the Sulhs, Karamis, and Yafis for the Sunnis; the Jumblatts, Yazbaks, and Arslans for the Druzes; and the Asads and Hamadah for the Shias.

The Civil War

Disclaimer:
Due to the sensitivity of the Lebanese conflict, we would like to remind our readers that all views, facts, and statements presented below, do not represent the views of the LAA neither its members nor board of directors. Facts are stated as they are from different U.S Sources ranging from Archives, press and documented interviews. The LAA is not responsible of any of these facts and apologizes to its public if any Unintentional Offense towards any fellow Lebanese. We do appreciate your comments. Between the years 1975 and 1991, a most devastating armed conflict took place in Lebanon. This war was one of the most devastating wars in recent memory. Some 150,000 persons died, as many were seriously injured. The physical destruction alone was estimated by International Organizations at $25 to $30 billion which constituted close to 13 times the national income of the country at the end of the war.The war was largely the result of tensions between religious groups, worsened by the influx of Palestinians. Each group in Lebanon has its own soldiers.To many Lebanese, the complex 1975 Civil War can be summarized in only a few words. These words are place-names, such as Ad Damur or Karantina, which evoke traumatic memories of massacres and atrocities and need no further explanation. A narrative of the Civil War is therefore more a translation of this vocabulary of suffering and pain than a chronology of campaigns.

~Start of Conflict~

The Cairo Agreement and the Prelude to the 1975 Civil War ...The Lebanese army's inactivity continued under Shihab's successor, Charles Hilu , who became president in 1964. Hilu and his army commander refused to commit Lebanese troops to the June 1967 War, enraging many Lebanese Muslims. In the aftermath of that war, the army and its Deuxième Bureau turned a blind eye to Palestinian guerrillas infiltrating Lebanon from Syria and other Arab countires , an attitude that angered Christians. But when the army did not interfere with commando raids and the Israelis launched attacks into Lebanon in retaliation against the Palestinian forces, the army and the Deuxiéme Bureau were charged with collusion with Israel. In December 1968, the government was humiliated when Israeli commandos landed at Beirut International Airport and destroyed Middle East Airlines aircraft with impunity. In October 1969, the Lebanese Army took a more active role in fighting Palestinian forces. Nevertheless, it was clear that the army could decisively defeat the Palestinians only at the risk of splitting the nation. Therefore, army commander General Emil Bustani signed the Cairo Agreement in November 1969 with Palestinian representatives . The Cairo Agreement remains officially secret, but it apparently granted to the Palestinians the right to keep weapons in their camps and to attack Israel across Lebanon's border. By sanctioning the armed Palestinian presence, however, Lebanon surrendered full sovereignty over military operations conducted within and across its borders and became a party to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
A turning point in Lebanon's modern history occurred in 1970. In that year, Sulayman Franjiyeh was elected president. Franjiyeh, came from the Christian enclave of Zgharta in northern Lebanon was accused of not confronting Lebanon's growing security problems. Believing that the Deuxième Bureau was staffed with Shihab loyalists, Franjiyah purged it and stripped it of its powers. But the Deuxième Bureau had been the only governmental entity capable of monitoring and controlling the Palestinians, and Franjiyah's action unintentionally gave the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) more freedom of action in Lebanon. The PLO leadership and guerrillas moved their main base of operations from Jordan to Lebanon, where the Cairo Agreement endorsed their presence. The influx of several hundred thousand Palestinians upset Lebanon's delicate confessional balance , and polarized the nation into two camps--those who supported and those who opposed the PLO presence. Public order deteriorated with daily acts of violence between Christians and Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force launched raids against the Palestinian refugee camps in retaliation for PLO attacks in Western Europe. On April 10, 1973, Israeli commandos infiltrated Beirut in a daring raid and attacked Palestinian command centers in the heart of the capital Beirut .Once again, the conspicuous absence of the Lebanese Army during the Israeli attack angered Lebanese Muslims. Prime Minister Saib Salam claimed that Army commander General Iskandar Ghanim--a Maronite--had disobeyed orders by not resisting the Israeli raid, and he threatened to resign unless Ghanim were stripped of his rank. Because Ghanim was allowed to remain as army commander (until he was replaced by Hanna Said in September 1975), Salam did resign. When the Lebanese Army finally went into action, it was against the PLO. In May 1973, fierce combat raged around the refugee camps for two weeks. When the dust settled, it became clear to all Lebanese that their army was not strong enough to control the PLO. To end the fighting, the government negotiated the Melkart Agreement, which on the one hand obligated the PLO to respect the "independence, stability, and sovereignty" of Lebanon but on the other hard ceded to the PLO virtual autonomy, including the right to maintain its own militia forces in certain areas of Lebanon. These provisions of the Melkart Agreement differed greatly from the Cairo Agreement, which preserved the "exercise of full powers in all regions and in all circumstances by Lebanese civilian and military authorities." Lebanese Muslims believed that under the Melkart Agreement Palestinian refugees in Lebanon had been accorded a greater degree of self-determination than some Lebanese citizens. Inspired by this, they organized themselves politically and militarily and tried to wrest similar concessions from the central government. In 1974 Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt established the Lebanese National Movement (formerly the Front for Progressive Parties and National Forces), an umbrella group comprising antigovernment forces.

The Military Cabinet
During the first months of intermittent combat between Muslims and Christians, President Franjiyeh refused to commit the army to separate the combatants. On May 23, however, he took the unorthodox and unprecedented step of appointing a military cabinet. Muslim Brigadier Nur ad Din Rifai, retired commander of the Internal Security Force, was named prime minister. Rifai selected the controversial Ghanim as his minister of defense; all other cabinet ministers except one were also military officers. Franjiyeh's motives were difficult to discern. Perhaps Franjiyeh sincerely thought that a strong interconfessional military government with unquestionable authority over the army could avert wide spread conflict, although Lebanon's democracy would be sacrificed. Indeed, Syrian foreign minister Abdul Halim Khaddam reportedly warned Lebanese politicians that the Lebanese Army was capable of uniting its ranks, staging a coup d'état, and imposing a military dictatorship. Nevertheless, Lebanon's first and last military government was short lived, resigning two days after its inception. Even when installed in the government, the army proved unwilling or incapable of exerting authority in Lebanon. The resignation of the military government demonstrated the power vacuum in Lebanese politics and served as the catalyst to conflict. The rival military factions intensified their fighting, and full-fledged civil war began in earnest.

First Combats
The Lebanese Civil War started on April 13, 1975, when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a congregation outside a Maronite church in Ayn ar Rummanaha, Christian suburb of Beirut . In apparent retaliation, members of the Christian Phalange Party ambushed a bus filled with Palestinians and shot the passengers. These events initiated the escalating cycle of retaliation and revenge that came to characterize Lebanon for the next decade.
The first six months of combat were desultory by subsequent Lebanese standards, with Phalangist and Palestinian forces exchanging small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire from their respective strongholds of Al Ashrafiyah and Tall Zatar. The Phalangist strategy was predicated (hoping) on forcing the army to intervene on its side. Although over 1,000 people were killed in the early fighting, many Lebanese still viewed the nascent Civil War as a transitory phenomenon that would soon abate, like past security crises. Therefore, when well-organized Muslim militias attacked the downtown Qantari district in late October 1975, causing heavy loss of life and massive property damage, many inhabitants of Beirut realized for the first time that the war was a serious affair. The Muslim side eventually took Qantari and occupied the forty-story Murr Tower, the highest building in Beirut.
On December 6, 1975, "Black Saturday," Phalangists set up roadblocks on city streets, seized an estimated 350 Muslims, and murdered them. Muslims had been easily identifiable because Lebanese identification cards indicated religious affiliation. This was the first major massacre of civilians in the Civil War and started a vicious cycle of revenge and retaliation. From this point on, after combatants of each faction conquered territory from their rivals, they routinely killed civilians.
In late 1975 and early 1976, fierce fighting engulfed Beirut's high-rise hotel district. The hotels changed hands several times, with the Muslims ultimately securing control of the area. The expanded scope and intensity of the combat increased casualties greatly, with over 1,000 killed in the first weeks of the new year.
It was at this juncture that the Lebanese Army disintegrated completely. On January 16, 1976, Minister of Defense Shamun called in the mostly Christian-manned Lebanese Air Force to bomb leftist positions in Ad Damur. In response, Muslim troops rallied to the side of Lieutenant Ahmad Khatib, who split off and declared the creation of the Lebanese Arab Army . In desperation, Beirut garrison commander Brigadier Aziz Ahdab seized Beirut's radio and television stations on March 11 and announced that the Lebanese Army was stepping in to take over the government and restore order. But Ahdab's move came too late, and he was derisively nicknamed "General Television" by militia leaders, who commanded far more men. Karantina, a slum district named after the old immigration quarantine area, was the site of the next major episode in the war. Situated so that it controlled Christian access over the Beirut "River bridge" to the strategic port area, it became a military target. Karantina was populated primarily by poor Kurds and Armenians but was controlled by a PLO detachment. On January 18, 1976, Christian forces conquered Karantina and up to 1,000 civilians were killed. Two days later, revenge-seeking Palestinians and leftist Muslims attacked the Christian city of Ad Damur, located about 20 kilometers south of Beirut, and murdered between 200 and 500 Christians. The two consecutive massacres induced Muslims residing in Christian-dominated areas to flee to Muslim-held areas, and vice versa. Whereas most Lebanese towns and neighborhoods previously had been integrated, for the first time large-scale population transfers began to divide the country into segregated zones, the first step toward de facto partition.
The Christians were losing the Civil War as the Muslim-leftist side forced them to retreat farther into East Beirut. The Christians felt it imperative to retain control of Beirut's port district and constructed an elaborate barricade defense at Allenby Street. In May 1976, as the Christians tried to stave off the Muslim assault on the port district, the Lebanese Army finally entered the fray. Christian officers and enlisted men from the Al Fayadiyyah barracks outside Beirut came to the aid of their beleaguered coreligionists, bringing armored cars and heavy artillery. The Muslim advance was stopped, and the front at Allenby Street evolved into a no-man's-land, dividing Christian East Beirut from Muslim West Beirut. Vegetation that eventually grew in this abandoned area inspired the name "Green Line" , and the Green Line remained till the End Of The War .

Regional Intervention
The government of Syria, although in theory a socialist regime, feared that a leftist victory and the installation of a radical government in Lebanon would undermine Syrian security and provide Israel an excuse to intervene in the area. After repeated diplomatic efforts failed to quell the Lebanese Civil War, on June 1, 1976, Syria intervened on the side of the Christians. In the following months, the Syrian presence grew to 27,000 troops. By November the Syrians had occupied most Muslim-held areas of Lebanon, including West Beirut and Tripoli. Most Muslim forces capitulated without firing a shot, overwhelmed by the Syrian show of force. In Sidon, however, Palestinian and leftist forces fought off the Syrians for nearly six months before relinquishing their stronghold. For nearly the entire first year of the Civil War, the Phalangists and the PLO had made a mutual attempt to avoid combat, even as smaller Christian and Palestinian splinter groups clashed. The PLO tried to enhance its reputation and credibility by playing the role of a neutral mediator between the Lebanese left and the Christians. For its part, the Phalange Party avoided antagonizing the PLO because it feared that the Palestinians would intervene on the Muslim side. After Syria had subdued the Muslim threat, however, the Phalangists turned their full attention to the Palestinians. The battle for Tall Zatar was the final showdown of the Lebanese Civil War. Tall Zatar was a Palestinian refugee camp situated on the Christian side of the Green Line where about 1,500 Palestinian guerrillas defended a civilian population of roughly 20,000 against several thousand Christian militiamen. The Christians were supported and advised in their siege by the Lebanese and Syrian armies; Israeli advisers were also present on the Christian side. Because Tall Zatar was honeycombed with bunkers and tunnels, the PLO was able to defend the camp from persistent Christian attacks for about six months, despite a nearly constant barrage of artillery fire that took a large toll. On August 12 Christian forces finally overran the camp and many of the several thousand civilians who had remained there were killed.

The Arab deterrent Forces (a.k.a Riyadh conference)
In October 1976 a League of Arab States (Arab League) summit conference was convened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to resolve the Lebanese crisis. The conference did not address the underlying political and demographic problems, only the security situation. The resulting multilateral agreement mandated a cease-fire and, at the Lebanese government's behest, authorized the creation of the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF) to impose and supervise the cease-fire. In theory the ADF, funded by the Arab League, was to be a pan-Arab peacekeeping force under the supreme command of the Lebanese president. In reality, only about 5,000 Arab troops from Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf states, Libya, and Sudan augmented the existing Syrian forces. Moreover, Syria would not relinquish actual command over its soldiers. Therefore, the agreement in effect legitimized and subsidized the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. In the summer of 1977. Syria, the PLO, and the government of Lebanon signed the Shtawrah Accord, which detailed the planned disposition of the ADF in Lebanon and called for a reconstituted Lebanese Army to take over PLO positions in southern Lebanon.

The Red Line
Meanwhile, Israel grew concerned over the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, particularly as the Syrian Army pursued retreating Palestinians and Muslim leftists into southern Lebanon. Israel believed that the Syrian forces, massed in southern Lebanon, might attack Israel across the unfortified Lebanese border and thus avoid the need to penetrate the heavily defended Golan Heights. Therefore, Israel enunciated its "Red Line" policy, threatening to attack Syria if it crossed a line identified geographically with the Litani River . Thus, Syrian forces were generally precluded from moving south of the Litani. The Red Line was a geographic line, but it was also more subjective than a line on a map. Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin identified the Red Line as a guideline for gauging Syria's overall military behavior in Lebanon, and he described several criteria Israel would use: the objectives of Syrian forces and against whom they were operating, the geographical area and its proximity to Israel's borders, the strength and composition of Syrian forces, and the duration of their stay in a given area.

Operation Litani
Because it was skeptical about the willingness and capability of the Lebanese Army to implement the Shtawrah Accord by displacing the PLO in southern Lebanon and securing the border area, in 1977 Israel started to equip and fund a renegade Christian remnant of the Lebanese Army led by Major Saad Haddad. Haddad's force, which became known as The Free Lebanon Army, and later as the South Lebanon Army (SLA), grew to a strength of about 3,000 men and was allied closely with Israel. Haddad eventually proclaimed the enclave he controlled "Free Lebanon." The insulation provided by this buffer area permitted Israel to open up its border with Lebanon. Under this so-called "Good Fence" policy, Israel provided aid and conducted trade with Lebanese living near the border. On March 11, 1978, PLO made a sea landing in Haifa, Israel, commandeered a bus, and then drove toward Tel Aviv, firing from the windows. By the end of the day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had killed the nine attackers, who had murdered thirty-seven Israeli civilians. In retaliation, four days later Israel launched Operation Litani, invading Lebanon with a force of 25,000 men. The purpose of the operation was to push PLO positions away from the border and bolster the power of the SLA. The IDF first seized a security belt about ten kilometers deep, but then pushed north and captured all of Lebanon south of the Litani River, inflicting thousands of casualties.

Bashir Jemayel Era
Emboldened by Israel's willingness to intervene militarily in Lebanon, Bashir Jumayyil exploited Israel's tacit guarantees to consolidate his position within the fractious Maronite community. On June 13, 1978, he launched a surprise attack that decimated the Marada Brigade, the pro-Syrian Christian Militia led by Tony Franjiyah (son of the former president), who was killed in the attach, and provoked the Syrians with direct attacks. In pitting his meager force of a few thousand fighters against three divisions of the Syrian Army, Jumayyil was taking a calculated gamble that Israel would come to his rescue and evict the Syrians. Syria rushed forces to Beirut and unleashed a devastating artillery attack on East Beirut, particularly the Phalangist stronghold of Al Ashrafiyah, in preparation for taking over the area. But Jumayyil's brinkmanship was vindicated. The IDF massed forces on the Golan Heights and threatened to go to war to preserve the Maronite community. To emphasize the point, Israeli jets overflew Syrian positions. The threat worked, and Syria withdrew its troops. Once again, Jumayyil took the opportunity to strengthen his grip over the Maronites. On July 7, 1980, the Phalangists launched another surprise attack, wiping out Shamun's Militia, the Tigers. Through this process of elimination, Jumayyil emerged as the dominant Maronite military leader. Jumayyil persevered in his plot to embroil Israel in a fullscale war with Syria. In late 1980. In April 1981, Jumayyil decided to put Israel's promise to the test. Syria had launched its "Program of National Reconciliation," which was designed to install Sulayman Franjiyah as president. Jumayyil found the proposition unpalatable, but he was impotent to oppose it politically. Therefore, he staged an incident in the city of Zahlah deliberately calculated to flare into a major crisis. Zahlah, the capital of Al Biqa Province in eastern Lebanon, had never been a Phalangist base; its population was primarily proSyrian Greek Orthodox, and it was about fifteen kilometers west of the Syrian border in the heart of the Syrian-occupied zone of Lebanon. Jumayyil infiltrated approximately 100 Phalangist militiamen into the city to attack Syrian positions and to shell the Syrian headquarters in the adjacent town of Shtawrah. The Syrians responded by besieging Zahlah. Jumayyil then called an urgent meeting with Begin and convinced him that the Syrians intended to follow through on the siege with an all-out attack on the Christian heartland. Although Syrian president Hafiz al Assad had told Jumayyil he would lift the siege if the Phalangists evacuated the city, Jumayyil concealed this point from Begin and instead urged Israel to honor its promise and launch an air strike against the Syrians. On April 28, the Israeli cabinet convened and authorized a limited air strike, but it did so over the strident objections of Israel's intelligence chiefs, who suspected that the crisis was a Phalangist ploy. Israeli fighters carried out the raid and downed two Syrian helicopter troop transports on Jabal Sannin, a strategic mountain overlooking Zahlah.

The Israeli attack caught the Syrians by surprise. Syria had adhered to the so-called "Red Line" agreements by deliberately refraining from deploying antiaircraft missiles in the Biqa Valley and by not impeding Israeli photoreconnaissance overflights. Assad responded to the Israeli attack by stationing SA-6 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) in the vicinity of Zahlah. Other SAMs and surface-to-surface missiles were deployed on the Syrian side of the border. Begin vowed publicly that the IDF would launch an attack on the missiles. In response, President Ronald Reagan dispatched to the Middle East Special Ambassador Philip Habib, who averted the imminent Israeli strike. Meanwhile, the Phalangists abandoned Zahlah, and Syria reasserted its control over the Biqa Valley. The net effect of the crisis was that Syrian air defense missiles were deployed in Lebanon. Israel was forced to tolerate this situation in the short run, but it still regarded the missile deployment as an unacceptable shift in the balance of forces that could not be endured indefinitely. Therefore, Israel had reasons of its own for a future attack on the Syrians in Lebanon.

As the tension in the Biqa Valley subsided, IDF chief of staff Rafael Eitan urged Begin to mount an artillery bombardment of Palestinian bases in Lebanon. Israel routinely conducted preemptive artillery attacks and air strikes to deter PLO terrorist attacks against Galilee settlements in northern Israel. Then, on July 10, 1981, the IDF commenced five days of air strikes and naval bombardments against PLO strongholds in southern Lebanon. The PLO fought back by shelling the Israeli resort town of Nahariyya on the Mediterranean coast. The conflict escalated as Israel launched a devastating air raid against the heavily populated Palestinian neighborhood of Fakhani in West Beirut, killing over 100 people and wounding over 600. By Israeli estimates, only thirty of those killed were terrorists. For ten days, the PLO then unleashed artillery fire against the upper Galilee. Although only six Israeli citizens were killed, many Israelis were shocked and stunned by the PLO's capability to sustain such an attack. On July 24, Ambassador Habib returned to Israel to negotiate an end to the artillery duel. Because the PLO was almost out of ammunition and most of its guns had been silenced, the IDF wanted to prolong the fighting until it could win a clear-cut victory. But the Israeli cabinet was eager to comply with Habib's cease-fire proposal, and Israel entered into a truce with the PLO. PLO leader Yasir Arafat was determined not to break the ceasefire . On a political level, the truce enhanced the PLO's diplomatic credibility. Tactically, it allowed the PLO time to reinforce its military strength in southern Lebanon. The Soviet Union refused to provide the PLO with weapons, but PLO emissaries purchased arms from East European countries and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), acquiring Grad and Katyusha artillery rockets and antiquated but functional T-34 tanks. On June 4, IDF aircraft bombed Palestinian targets in West Beirut, and the PLO resumed artillery fire on Israeli settlements in the northern Galilee. The Israeli cabinet convened and voted to authorize an invasion, named Operation Peace for Galilee, but it set strict limits on the extent of the incursion. The IDF was to advance no farther than forty kilometers, the operation was to last only twenty-four hours, Syrian forces were not to be attacked, and Beirut was not to be approached.

Beirut Under Seige
The cease-fire signaled the start of a new stage in the war, as Israel focused on PLO forces trapped in Beirut. Although Israel had long adhered to the axiom that conquering and occupying an Arab capital would be a political and military disaster, key Israeli leaders were determined to drive the PLO out of Beirut. According to the original plan, the Phalangists were to move into West Beirut under the covering fire of Israeli artillery and reunite the divided capital. Bashir Jumayyil concluded, however, that such overt collusion with the IDF would prejudice his chances to become president, and he reneged on the promises he had made. Israel maintained the siege of Beirut for seventy days, unleashing a relentless barrage of air, naval, and artillery bombardment. At times, the Israeli bombardment appeared to be random and indiscriminate; at other times, it was targeted with pinpoint precision. Then, the Israeli Air Force conducted what has been called a "manhunt by air" for Arafat and his top lieutenants and on several occasions bombed premises only minutes after the PLO leadership had vacated them. If the PLO was hurt physically by the bombardment, the political fallout was just as damaging to Israel. The appalling civilian casualties earned Israel world opprobrium. Morale plummeted among IDF officers and enlisted men, many of whom personally opposed the war. Meanwhile, the highly publicized plight of the Palestinian civilians garnered world attention for the Palestinian cause. Furthermore, Arafat was negotiating, albeit through intermediaries, with Ambassador Habib and other United States officials. Negotiating with Arafat was thought by some to be tantamount to United States recognition of the PLO. Arafat had threatened to turn Beirut into a "second Stalingrad," to fight the IDF to the last man. His negotiating stance grew tenuous, however, after Lebanese leaders, who had previously expressed solidarity with the PLO, petitioned him to abandon Beirut to spare the civilian population further suffering. Arafat informed Habib of his agreement in principle to withdraw the PLO from Beirut on condition that a multinational peacekeeping force be deployed to protect the Palestinian families left behind. With the diplomatic deadlock broken, Habib made a second breakthrough when Syria and Tunisia agreed to host departing PLO fighters. An advance unit of the Multinational Force (MNF), 350 French troops, arrived in Beirut on August 21. The Palestinian evacuation by sea to Cyprus and by land to Damascus commenced on the same day. On August 26, the remaining MNF troops arrived in Beirut, including a contingent of 800 United States Marines. The Palestinian exodus ended on September 1. Approximately 8,000 Palestinian guerrillas, 2,600 PLA regulars, and 3,600 Syrian troops had been evacuated from West Beirut.
Lebanese estimates, compiled from International Red Cross sources and police and hospital surveys, calculated that 17,825 Lebanese had died and over 30,000 had been wounded. On August 23, the legislature elected Bashir Jumayyil president of Lebanon. On September 10, the United States Marines withdrew from Beirut, followed by the other members of the MNF. The Lebanese Army began to move into West Beirut, and the Israelis withdrew their troops from the front lines. But the war was far from over. By ushering in Jumayyil as president and evicting the PLO from Beirut, Israel had attained two of its key war goals. Israel's remaining ambition was to sign a comprehensive peace treaty with Lebanon that would entail the withdrawal of Syrian forces and prevent the PLO from reinfiltrating Lebanon after the IDF withdrew. Jumayyil repudiated earlier promises to Israel immediately after the election. He informed the Israelis that a peace treaty was inconceivable as long as the IDF or any other foreign forces remained in Lebanon and that it could be concluded only with the consent of all the Lebanese. But on September 14, 1982, President-elect Jumayyil was assassinated in a massive radio-detonated explosion that leveled the Phalange Party headquarters where he was delivering a speech to party members. The perpetrator, Habib Shartuni, was soon apprehended. Shartuni, a member of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party, was allegedly a Syrian agent. Jumayyil's brother, Amin, who was hostile to the Israeli presence in Lebanon, was elected president with United States backing. On the evening of September 16, 1982, the IDF, having surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, dispatched approximately 300 to 400 Christian militiamen into the camps to rout what was believed to be the remnant of the Palestinian forces. The militiamen were mostly Phalangists under the command of Elie Hubayka , a former close aide of Bashir Jumayyil, but militiamen from the Israeli-supported SLA were also present. The IDF ordered its soldiers to refrain from entering the camps, but IDF officers supervised the operation from the roof of a six-story building overlooking parts of the area. According to the report of the Kahan Commission established by the government of Israel to investigate the events, the IDF monitored the Phalangist radio network and fired illumination flares from mortars and aircraft to light the area. Over a period of two days, the Christian militiamen killed some 700 to 800 Palestinian men, women, and children.

The Multinational Force
At the behest of the Lebanese government, the Multinational Force (MNF) was deployed again in Beirut, but with over twice the manpower of the first peacekeeping force. It was designated MNF II and given the mandate to serve as an "interpositional force," separating the IDF from the Lebanese population. Additionally, MNF II was assigned the task of assisting the Lebanese Army in restoring the authority of the central government over Beirut. The United States dispatched a contingent of 1,400 men, France 1,500, and Italy 1,400. A relatively small British contingent of about 100 men was added in January 1983, at which time the Italian contingent was increased to 2,200 men. Each contingent retained its own command structure, and no central command structure was created. The French contingent was assigned responsibility for the port area and West Beirut. The Italian contingent occupied the area between West Beirut and Beirut International Airport, which encompassed the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The 32d United States Marines Amphibious Unit returned to Beirut on September 29, where it took up positions in the vicinity of Beirut International Airport. The Marines' positions were adjacent to the IDF front lines. The Marines' stated mission was to establish an environment that permit would the Lebanese Army to carry out its responsibilities in the Beirut area. Tactically, the Marines were charged with occupying and securing positions along a line from the airport east to the Presidential Palace at Babda. The intent was to separate the IDF from the population of Beirut. The key to the initial success of MNF II was its neutrality. The Lebanese government had assured Ambassador Habib in writing that it had obtained commitments from various factions to refrain from hostilities against the Marines. The United States reputation among the Lebanese was enhanced when a Marine officer was obliged to draw his pistol to halt an Israeli advance, an event sensationalized in the news media. And, in the same month, Marines conducted emergency relief operations in the mountains after a midwinter blizzard. At this juncture, the prevalent mood in Lebanon was one of cautious optimism and hope. The Lebanese Army was pressed into service to clear away the rubble of years of warfare. The government approved a US$600 million reconstruction plan. On October 1, President Jumayyil declared Beirut reunited, as the army demolished barricades along the Green Line that had been standing since 1975. Hundreds of criminals and gang leaders were rounded up and arrested. In the first months of 1983, approximately 5,000 government troops were deployed throughout Greater Beirut. Most important, the government began to build a strong national army (see The Lebanese Armed Forces in the 1980s, this ch). Lebanese optimism was bolstered by changing Israeli politics and policies. Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon, the architect of Israel's war in Lebanon, had resigned in the wake of the Sabra and Shatila investigation, although he remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio. He was replaced by the former ambassador to the United States, Moshe Arens. Although Arens was considered a hawk in the Israeli political spectrum, he was not committed to Sharon's ambitious goals and wanted the IDF to withdraw promptly from Lebanon, if only to avoid antagonizing the United States, with which he had cultivated a close relation. Accordingly, Israel withdrew its forces to the outskirts of the capital. But the IDF had no clear tactical mission in Lebanon. Its continued presence was intended as a bargaining chip in negotiations for a Syrian withdrawal. While awaiting the political agreement, the IDF was forced to fight a different kind of war, which Israeli newspapers compared with the Vietnam War. The IDF had been turned into a static and defensive garrison force likethe Syrians before them, caught in the cross fire between warring factions. When Phalangist forces tried to exploit the fluid situation by attacking the Druze militia in the Shuf Mountains in late 1983, the IDF had to intervene and separate the forces. In southern Lebanon, the IDF had to protect the many Palestinian refugees who had streamed back to the camps against attacks by Israel's proxy force, the SLA. In one of the bigger ironies of the war, the IDF recruited and armed Palestinian home guards to prevent a repetition of the massacres in Beirut.

May 17 Agreement
In April 1983, a terrorist attack destroyed the United States embassy, and the ambassador moved diplomatic operations to his official residence. The United States persevered in its efforts to broker an Israeli-Lebanese agreement, and Israel announced its willingness to negotiate. Although Israel had envisaged a treaty like the Camp David Agreements with Egypt, entailing full bilateral diplomatic recognition, it settled for mere "normalization." The military and security articles of the May 17 Agreement between the Israeli and Lebanese governments called for an abolition of the state of war between the two countries, security arrangements to ensure the sanctity of Israel's northern border, integration of Major Haddad's SLA into the regular Lebanese Army, and Israeli withdrawal. The Israeli withdrawal was made contingent upon concurrent Syrian withdrawal, however. The United States had decided not to seek Syrian participation in the negotiations for the May 17 Agreement for fear of becoming entangled in the overall SyrianIsraeli imbroglio. Instead, the United States intended to seek Syrian endorsement after the agreement was signed. But Syria vehemently opposed the agreement, and because implementation hinged on Syrian withdrawal, Damascus could exert veto power. Although President Jumayyil made conciliatory overtures to Damascus, he also notified the Arab League on June 4 that the ADF was no longer in existence. Syria responded by announcing on July 23, 1983, the foundation of the National Salvation Front (NSF). This coalition comprised many sects, including the Druzes led by Walid Jumblatt; Shias led by Nabih Birri (also seen as Berri); Sunni Muslims led by Rashid Karami; Christian elements led by Sulayman Franjiyah; and several smaller, Syrian-sponsored, left-wing political parties. These groups, together with Syria, controlled much more of Lebanon's territory than did the central government. Therefore, the NSF constituted a challenge not only to Jumayyil but also to his patrons, the United States and Israel. To emphasize their opposition to the May 17 Agreement, Syrian and Druze forces in the mountains above the capital loosed a barrage of artillery fire on Christian areas of Beirut, underscoring the weakness of Jumayyil's government. By mid-1983 the mood of optimism that had flourished at the end of 1982 had disappeared. It became clear that the tentative alliance of Lebanon's rival factions was merely a function of their shared opposition to a common enemy, Israel. Terrorist activity resumed, and between June and August 1983, at least twenty car bombs exploded throughout Lebanon, killing over seventy people. Lebanon's prime minister narrowly escaped death in one explosion. Targets included a mosque in Tripoli; a television station, hospital, and luxury hotel in Beirut; and a market in Baalbek. The May 17 Agreement had significant implications for the MNF. As a noncombatant interpositional force preventing the IDF from entering Beirut, the MNF had been perceived by the Muslims in West Beirut as a protector. As the Israeli withdrawal neared, however, the MNF came to be regarded as a protagonist in the unfinished Civil War, propping up the Jumayyil government. In August militiamen began to bombard United States Marines positions near Beirut International Airport with mortar and rocket fire as the Lebanese Army fought Druze and Shia forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut. On August 29, 1983, two Marines were killed and fourteen wounded, and in the ensuing months the Marines came under almost daily attack from artillery, mortar, rocket, and small-arms fire.

The Mountain War
On September 3, 1983, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began to evacuate the Shuf Mountains region and within twenty-four hours had completed its redeployment to south of the Awwali River. In the power vacuum resulting from the Israeli withdrawal, the Phalangist militia, no longer under Jumayyil's firm control, clashed with the Druze militia at Bhamdun, a town located where the Beirut-Damascus highway touches the edge of the Shuf Mountains. Simultaneously, the Lebanese Army sought to guard the cities of Suq al Gharb and Khaldah to prevent Druze forces from invading Beirut. After several days of combat, the Phalangist militia was routed at Bhamdun and retreated to its stronghold of Dayr al Qamar, along with much of the Christian population. The Druzes surrounded and besieged Dayr al Qamar, which held 40,000 Christian residents and refugees and 2,000 Phalangist fighters. In other areas of the Shuf Mountains, the Druzes went on a rampage reminiscent of the 1860 massacres (see Religious Conflicts, ch. 1). The Catholic Information Center in Beirut reported that 1,500 Christian civilians were killed and 62 Christian villages demolished. The defeat of the Phalangists was expensive for the Christian community, which lost a large amount of territory. The cost in political currency was even higher, however. Not only did the fighting deal a blow to Amin Jumayyil's credibility and authority in his dual role as chief of state and leader of the Christian community, it destroyed the myth shared by many different Lebanese factions that the Lebanese Civil War had been settled in 1976. Admittedly, Christians and Muslims had continued to fire on each other's neighborhoods on occasion, but this was perceived as part of Lebanon's environment, like the weather. In all the significant fighting between 1976 and 1982, the Syrians, Israelis, and Palestinians had been belligerents on either or both sides of the conflict. The Mountain War, as the 1983-84 fighting in the Shuf Mountains came to be called, however, was a purely Lebanese contest, and it dashed the hopes harbored by many that the withdrawal of foreign forces would end the Civil War. In Suq al Gharb and Khaldah, it was the Lebanese Army rather than the Phalangists that confronted the Druze militias. On September 16, 1983, Druze forces massed on the threshold of Suq al Gharb. For the next three days the army's Eighth Brigade fought desperately to retain control of the town (see The Army, this ch.). The tiny Lebanese Air Force was thrown into the fray, losing several aircraft to Druze missile fire. United States Navy warships shelled Druze positions and helped the Lebanese Army hold the town until a cease-fire was declared on September 25, on which day the battleship U.S.S. New Jersey arrived on the scene.

The Multinational Forces Withdrawal
Although the Lebanese Army had beaten the Druze forces on the battlefield, it was a Pyrrhic victory because the army was discredited if not defeated. Approximately 900 Druze enlisted men and 60 officers defected from the army to join their coreligionists. The Lebanese Armed Forces chief of staff, General Nadim al Hakim, fled into Druze territory, but he would not admit he had actually defected. Thus, the army again had split along confessional lines. Furthermore, the army had halted the Druzes only with United States armed intervention. For its part, the United States had clearly inherited Israel's role of shoring up the precarious Lebanese government. On September 29, 1983, the United States Congress, by a solid majority, adopted a resolution declaring the 1973 War Powers Resolution to apply to the situation in Lebanon and sanctioned the United States military presence for an eighteen-month period. Although the MNF remained in Lebanon after the October 1983 suicide truck bombings, the situation of the United States and French contingents was precarious (see Suicide Bombings, this ch.). In early February 1984, Shia Amal militiamen clashed with the Lebanese Army in the southern suburbs of Beirut and after four days of heavy fighting gained control over Beirut International Airport, evicted the army from West Beirut, and reestablished the Green Line partitioning the capital. The decisive defeat of the army on two key fronts led to its gradual disintegration, as demoralized soldiers defected to join the opposition. United States Marines stationed near Beirut International Airport were surrounded by predominantly Shia militia groups. As the security environment in Lebanon deteriorated, Britain, France, Italy, and the United States decided to withdraw their MNF contingents.

The Bickfaya Accord
The withdrawal of the MNF left Syria as the dominant force in Lebanon, and Syria acted rapidly to consolidate its grip on Lebanese affairs. It pressured Jumayyil to abrogate the May 17 Agreement, and he did so on March 6, 1985. This event led to the resignation of the Council of Ministers and its replacement by a new government of national unity headed by Rashid Karami. Syria hammered out yet another security accord, the Bikfayya Agreement of June 18. Muslim and Druze cabinet ministers had insisted on the creation of a military command council to replace the post of commander in chief of the armed forces, a proposal that was opposed by Christian cabinet ministers, who perceived it as a dilution of their control over the military. A compromise was reached providing for the continuation of the post of commander in chief, to be held by a Maronite as before, but also the establishment of a multiconfessional six-man military command council to have authority over appointments at the brigade and division levels (see Organization and Command Structure, this ch.). Major General Ibrahim Tannus, the army commander, was replaced by Major General Michel Awn (also seen as Aoun), who was somewhat more acceptable to Muslims. Furthermore, a new intelligence agency, the National Security Council, was established, with the stipulation that it be headed by a Shia Muslim. A Shia general, Mustafa Nasir, was named as the first director of the new agency. Nevertheless, the Maronite-commanded military intelligence apparatus remained intact as a separate but parallel institution. The agreement also called for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy artillery and militiamen from the streets of East Beirut and West Beirut, the dismantling of barricades along the Green Line, and the reopening of the airport and port. The agreement formally took effect on June 23 and was implemented by July 6, 1985. Optimistic predictions that the Bikfayya Agreement would end Lebanon's chronic conflict were dashed as sporadic battles and terrorist attacks resumed. The accord was criticized vehemently by elements among the Maronites as Druze, Shia, and Sunni militia fought one another in West Beirut. Armed Shias stormed and burned the Saudi Arabian embassy on August 24. On the same day, the Lebanese National Resistance Front, an umbrella organization fighting Israel in southern Lebanon, fired two rocket-propelled grenades at the British embassy. On September 20, in a replay of the April 1983 attack, a suicide vehicle bomber attacked the new United States embassy building in East Beirut, killing eight and wounding dozens. The mounting tension in Lebanon was exacerbated by Israeli air raids against Palestinian guerrilla camps of the Abu Musa faction. The Bikfayya Agreement suffered another blow on August 23, when General al Hakim, the newly appointed Druze chief of staff of the Lebanese Armed Forces, died in an accidental helicopter crash. And, on August 30 Maronite patriarch and Phalange Party founder Pierre Jumayyil died of a heart attack, setting the stage for a power struggle in the Christian community. Syria, determined to implement the security plans it had sponsored, attempted to restore order. It curbed the activities of the Iranian Pasdaran and Hizballah in Baalbek in the Biqa Valley, and it quelled the fierce fighting in the northern port city of Tripoli between the pro-Syrian Arab Democratic Party and the Sunni fundamentalist Tawhid (Islamic Unification Movement).

~End of Conflict~

Geography

Lebanon has a unique nature, where mountains and beaches peek on each other. You can reach 1000m (3300 Ft) of altitude within 20 minutes. Snow and Sand merge together in a beautiful harmony. From the hot sandy beaches you can see the mountains crowned with snow. In its geographical location on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea, Lebanon became the center of the old world where the roman ships used to sail from its sea ports.

Location

Lebanon is located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The country is 215km long, and from east to west the distance ranges from 25 to 80km. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and by Israel to the south. Lebanon is a roughly rectangular strip of land about the size of Connecticut The sea and two chains of mountains (the Western and Eastern chain) have had dynamic impacts on Lebanon's history.
The sea has made Lebanon a crossroads for sea trade between Africa, Asia and Europe. Between the two mountain chains, which are called the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, is the Bekaa Valley. The Litani and Orontes rivers run through the valley, irrigating the land so that many crops can grow there, including apples, melons, citrus fruits, tobacco, vegetables, wheat and olives.

Climate

Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate -- hot and dry summers and cool, rainy winters. The sun shines 300 days a year. The annual rainfall on the coastal plain is around 35in, and more than 50in in the mountains. Humidity is high along the coast in summer and daytime temperatures average 30°C with night temperatures not much lower. Beirut (the Capital) in summer becomes a commuter society as families move to the mountains to enjoy the cool dry climate. Winters on the coast can be dry and mild one day and wet and chilly the next. Winter daytime temperatures average 15°C. In the mountains summer daytime temperatures average 26°C and the nights are pleasantly cool. Winters are cold and it snows at the higher elevations. The snow ensures good skiing from December through April.

Topography

There are four main geographical regions running north to south parallel to the Mediterranean -- the coastal plain, the Lebanon mountain chain, the Bekaa Valley and the Anti-Lebanon range. The narrow fertile coastal plain is broken at several points by the foothills and peaks of the Lebanon Mountains. Lebanon's main cities, Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon and Tyre are along this plain. The Lebanon mountains include numerous rivers which flow down to the sea, and Lebanon's highest peak Qornet Es-Sauda at 3090 metres. Behind the Lebanon Mountains is the Bekaa Valley, an extension of the Great Rift Valley. The 15-kilometre-wide fertile Bekaa valley is the country's main agricultural region, growing crops as varied as sugar beet, potatoes, and grapes. The Bekaa's archaeological treasures are among Lebanon's finest. Lebanon's two major rivers, the Litani and the Orontes, rise in the Bekaa Valley. The valley ends abruptly at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon range, an arid mountain mass which forms the boundary with Syria. Its highest summit is Mt. Hermon at 2814 metres. Indiscriminate hunting has greatly reduced the once-rich bird and animal population. A few species of wild animals survive including jackal, wolf and gazelle. The Lebanese Republic is divided into six regional governments, or Mohafazaat: Beirut, North Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, South Lebanon, The Bekaa Valley and Nabatiyeh

The Cedars

Most of Lebanon has been deforested. The great cedar forests have largely disappeared except in the higher mountains. A Mediterranean brush vegetation is found in most areas. 120 kms from Beirut. Known to the Lebanese as Arz ar-Rab (the Cedars of the Lord), some of the remaining 400 trees are over 1500 years old. It is believed that some of them even date back to the time when King Solomon had a part of the forest cut down to build his temple in Jerusalem (al-Qods). The Cedar tree, majestic and indestructible, is the emblem of Lebanon and adorns its flag. The Phoenicians, Greeks and Egyptians used its wood through the centuries in their homes,
their temples, their sarcophagi and their galleys. The village of the Cedars, over 2000 meters in altitude, is very picturesque ski resort with hotets, chalets, and ski lifts. Nearby is Qadisha grotto, a natural cavern with stalactitic stalagmitic formations.

The Beaches and Mountains

The narrow strip of coastal plain, rich with golden beaches, natural inlets and rocky promontories accommodates the capital Beirut, and the cities of Tripoli, Byblos, Saida and Tyre. Other large and small towns and villages dot the rest of the coast from north to south in the shadow of Mount Lebanon which seems to rise from the Mediterranean in a sharp sweep. The main peaks of this mountain mass are al-Qorna as-Sawdaa (3088 m) and al-Mounaitra (2911 m) in the north and
Sannin (2628 m) and al-Knaissa (2032 m) above Beirut which is situated almost halfway between the northernmost and southernmost borders.

Art, Society and Culture

People
As in other Arab countries the traditional lifestyle of the Lebanese revolves strongly around the family, socializing and hospitality. Western influences, mainly French and American, have given the country a cosmopolitan facade, mostly in the main cities. Outside the cities, especially in the mountains, the people retain the old customs and traditions. The Lebanese people, despite being ethnically and religiously diverse because of the country's long history of conquest and assimilation, are friendly and hospitable. They are familiar with foreigners' ways and dress and although sleeveless tops, miniskirts and shorts are acceptable in Beirut, the rest of the country is more traditional and modest dress is recommended. This is particularly necessary when visiting mosques and other religious places.

Education
Lebanon has one of the best education systems in the Middle East. The literacy rate is
more than 75%, one of the highest in the Arab world. Beirut has five universities. The major universities are: The American University of Beirut, The Lebanese University, Notre-Dame University, Beirut Arab University, Saint-Joseph University, Balamand University. For more information about Universities and Schools please refer to the directory from the main page.

Entertainment
Cinemas in the main cities show American and European films with Arabic subtitles. Venues for classical concerts, theatrical productions, and nightclubs can be found anywhere in Lebanon.

Media
Lebanon's freedom of press and speech enables the country to occupy a special place in the Arab world. The Media is free to puiblish or broadcast anything with minimum censorship. The large number of Television and Radio stations makes Lebanon the centre Media of the Middle-East. Television is one of the main family entertainement for the Lebanese people. The major television stations are : Lebanon Television (3 progrmas), Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) (2 Programs), Future Television, Murr Television. The major Radio stations are : Lebanese Station, Voice of Lebanon, Voice of Free Lebanon, Radio One, Mount Lebanon (2 programs), Magic102, La Une. For more information about Television and Radio stations please check the Lebanese Directory on the main page.

Food and drink
Although the food varies little from country to country throughout the Middle East, it is when the Arab world meets the Mediterranean that it becomes really interesting. Lebanese food combines the sophistication of European cuisine with the excitement of eastern spices, and it is Lebanon's culinary contributions that have been the greatest influence on modern Arabic cuisine. Dishes from the Lebanon provide the framework for the exotic cuisine recognized internationally as Arabic. Many traditional Lebanese dishes are simple preparations based on grains, pulses, vegetables and fruit. Often the same ingredients are used over and over, in different ways, in each dish. Yoghurt, cheese, cucumber, aubergines, chick peas, nuts, tomatoes, burghul and sesame (seeds, paste and oil) are harmoniously blended into numerous assorted medleys. Parsley and mint are used in vast quantities as are lemons, onions and garlic. Pastries are stuffed with vegetables and vegetables are stuffed with meats. Meat may be made into nuggets then cooked over charcoal. Presentation is always artistic: even the most basic dish is beautifully garnished -- a sprig of parsley here and a dab of yoghurt there.
A typical Lebanese meal starts with a mezze -- this can be an elaborate spread of forty or fifty hors d'oeuvres or simply a salad and a bowl of nuts. But it is always a social occasion when friends and family gather to enjoy appetizers and conversation before dinner. A meat, (lamb is the favourite meat) chicken or fish dish follows with salad and rice. There are two types of bread, the flat pitta pocket (pictured) found everywhere in the Middle East, and marcook -- a thin bread baked on a domed dish over a fire.

Some pppular Lebanese dishes are:

Baba Ghanoush: char-grilled eggplant, tahina, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic puree -- served as a dip.
Baklava: a dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in honey-lemon syrup, usually cut in a triangular or diamond shape.
Falafel: small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chick-peas.
Fattoush: salad of toasted croutons, cucumbers, tomatoes and mint.
Foul: slow cooked mask of brown beans and red lentils dressed with lemon olive oil and cumin.
Halawa: sesame paste sweet, usually made in a slab and studded with fruit and nuts.
Hommus: puree of chickpeas, tahina, lemon, and garlic served as a dip.
Jebne: white cheese.
Kamareddine: apricot nectar.
Kenafi: shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese, nuts and syrup.
Kibbeh: oval-shaped nuggets of ground lamb and burghul.
Kibbeh naye: raw kibbeh eaten like steak tartar.
Koshary: cooked dish of pasta, rice and lentils to which onions, chillies and tomatoes paste are added.
Kufta: fingers, balls or a flat cake of minced meat and spices that can be baked or charcoal-grilled on skewers.
Laban: tangy-tasting sour milk drink widely used in cooking.
Labenah: thick creamy cheese often spiced and used as a dip.
Lahma bi Ajeen: Arabic pizza or meatloaf spread.
Loubia: green beans cooked in tomato sauce.
Ma'amul: date cookies shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi.
Muhalabiyyah: silky textured semolina pudding served cold.
Musakhan: chicken casserole with sumac, a ground powder from the cashew family used as seasoning.
Sayyadiya: delicately spiced fish served on a bed of rice.
Tabbouleh: salad of burghul, tomato, mint and parsley.

Business and Banking

Business Overview
The free-enterprise economy, which is inherent to the political system in Lebanon, has also become part of the country's collective mindset of its people. It is this unwavering adherence to free enterprise that explains to a considerable extent the country's prosperity in the decades before the outbreak of the internal war, its resilience during the excruciating test of the war for a decade and a half, and its ability to re-emerge with unscathed potentials for recovery. Three pervading principles lay at the foundation of economic and investment legislation in Lebanon.

The first of these principles is the safeguard of private ownership of assets with no discrimination
between foreign and local ownership. The practical implications of this principle is that
foreign investors may fully own and manage their business and private assets without any restriction or requirement that in any way limit or weaken their control over their resources.

The second principle is the freedom of entrepreneurial activity, which implies that no law,
decree or regulation may be designed to unduly influence business decisions. In practice, this means that , though there are priorities in both the private and the public sectors, legislation may neither require nor induce investors to engage in any particular sector or project. It is a
principle that rests on the belief that resource allocation is a business decision - and by that token,
involves a business risk - but is definitely not a responsibility of public authorities....

The third principle on which Lebanon's economic legislation rests prones unhampered competition in the business sector. Again, the practical implications of that principle are far reaching. Thus, no piece of legislation may be designed to discriminate against - or forward the interests of - any business entity, group or sector of activity. Competition is not impeded by any discriminatory tax breaks, incentives or levies. When State intervention is called for, prompted by concerns
for the environment for example or, most importantly, by a keen intent on protecting the business sector from practices that are shunned and fought by the international community....

Those three principles warrant the assertions that: One, Lebanon truly is the region's free-enterprise
haven, and two, the business environment it has to offer to foreign investors embodies advantages that by far outweigh a hoc incentives and inducements available elsewhere but against a backdrop of cripling regulations and red tape.... With the corporate tax rate at a flat ten percent and
income tax rates varying between three percent and ten percent, it is clear that the tax burden is in fact quite light and does not affect business plans nor does it weaken incentives for work at the individual level. ... In trade for example, policy-makers have always adhered to the belief that wealth comes not from restrictions, controls, discrimination, or barriers - be they visible or not - but from openness and cooperation with the country's trade partners. That is why Lebanon has never had any restrictions on the free flow of goods and capital, has never imposed any discriminatory tariffs or regulations, and has never erected any administrative impediments to trade....

As for human resources, the war years did not set the country back in as far as skills, know-how, and international relations are concerned. As a matter of fact, all major sectors of the Lebanese economy maintained a level of proficiency in areas where they had enjoyed a comparative advantage and are now able to capitalize on this advantage to recapture their regional role. The country's universities strived to maintain academic standards and their graduates found admission in the most demanding institutions of higher learning in advanced countries. Admittedly, the exodus of professionals and of the country's youth in pursuit of academic attainment did deprive some sectors of the economy of the highly qualified and dynamic section of the population, but that was during the grim years of war.

At present, this vast pool of expatriate skills constitutes one of the inalienable potentials of the country and its business sector. This is because the Lebanese diaspora throughout the world have acquired knowledge and skills that kept them abreast with scientific, technical, financial and entrepreneurial developments and are now being motivated to return to Lebanon to plough in their skills and know-how.

As for the availability of local financing, developments within the financial sector point to the fact that large inflows of capital helped finance investments either directly or through the banking sector's swelling deposit base... 'Extract from the Lebanese Chamber of Comerce and Industies for more information Please refer to the Lebanese directory on the main Page.'

The Central Bank
Foreign exchange reserves held with the central bank reached a record level of $4779 million at the end of June 1996, up 6.5 percent from their total at the end of last year.
Total foreign assets held by the Bank of Lebanon stood at $8.3 billion by the end of last June, compared with $8.06 billion at the end of 1995. 'Extract from the Lebanese Chamber of Comerce and Industies for more information Please refer to the Lebanese directory on the main Page.'

Commercial Banks
Capital inflows were reflected in larger deposits held with locally-based commercial banks and in more loans extended by these banks to the private economy. Total private-sector deposits reached the equivalent of $15.22 billion at the end of June 1996 compared with $13.66 billion at
the end of 1995 and $ 11.35 billion at the end of 1994. Larger deposits allowed banks to
increase lending to the private economy by 13.4 percent in the first half of 1995. Loans to the private sector totalled $7.34 billion at the end of June 1996 compared with $6.47 billion by the end of last year and $4.74 billion at the end of 1994.'Extract from the Lebanese Chamber of Comerce and Industies for more information Please refer to the Lebanese directory on the main Page.

Public finance
The net public debt grew by 17.76 percent during the first half of this year, reaching LL 13,400 billion by the end of June compared with LL 11,379 billion at the end of 1995. The foreign debt reached LL 2152 billion, that is the equivalent of $1370 million by the end of last June.Commercial banks remained the main source of financing for public-sector borrowing; their contribution to the public debt stood at 70.9 percent by the end of last June. The budget deficit widened to in relative
terms as public revenues now cover more than half total public expenditure. The improvement in public finances over the past two year was mainly due to better tax collection and a more realistic pricing of public services. Such improvement was not due to higher taxation; in fact, corporate tax rates were reduced from 26 percent to 10 percent and personal income tax rates now range from 3
percent to 10 percent. Economic recovery and administrative reform will inevitably lead to further
increases in public revenues.

Economic growth
Economic indicators point to an annualized GDP growth rate of about five percent in the first half of1996 compared with a seven percent rate of growth registered in 1995. A number of regional as well as local political developments affected expectations and led to a slowdown in economic activity in the first six months of the current year. Though comparatively slower, GDP growth is still
indicative of economic recovery and reflects the success of macroeconomic stabilization policies. In as far as recovery is concerned, the Lebanese economy was, by the end of 1995, more than 60 percent larger in real terms than it was in 1990 when the internal war ended.The real-term rate of growth of GDP in 1991 and 1992 combined was estimated at 40 percent, and that was due to more or less spontaneous recovery spurred by the return to normality. Rates of growth in
1993-1995 period were between seven and eight percent annually.

Major Banks
The Central Bank , British Bank of The Middle-East, Byblos Bank, Bank Libano-Francaise, Universal Bank, Bank Saradar, ABN-AMRO Bank, Bank Audi, Arab Bank and most international banks have branches all over Lebanon . For more information Please refer to the Lebanese directory on the main Page.