Religions: Islam 60% (Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite,
Alawite/Nusayri), Christian 39% (Maronite, Melkite, Syrian, Armenian,
and Roman Catholic; Greek, Armenian, and Syrian Orthodox; Chaldean;
Assyrian; Copt; Protestant), other 1%
Literacy rate: 87% (2003 est.)
Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2005 est.):
$20.42 billion; per capita $5,300. Real growth rate: 0.5%.
Inflation: 2.4%. Unemployment: 18% (1997 est.).
Arable land: 17%. Agriculture: citrus, grapes, tomatoes,
apples, vegetables, potatoes, olives, tobacco; sheep, goats. Labor
force: 2.6 million; note: in addition, there are as many as 1
million foreign workers (2001 est.); services n.a., industry n.a.,
agriculture n.a. Industries: banking, tourism, food processing,
jewelry, cement, textiles, mineral and chemical products, wood and
furniture products, oil refining, metal fabricating. Natural
resources: limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a
water-deficit region, arable land. Exports: $1.782 billion
f.o.b. (2005 est.): authentic jewelry, inorganic chemicals,
miscellaneous consumer goods, fruit, tobacco, construction minerals,
electric power machinery and switchgear, textile fibers, paper.
Imports: $8.855 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): petroleum products,
cars, medicinal products, clothing, meat and live animals, consumer
goods, paper, textile fabrics, tobacco. Major trading partners:
Syria, UAE, Turkey, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Germany,
China, U.S., UK (2004).
Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: 700,000 (1999); mobile cellular:
580,000 (1999). Radio broadcast stations: AM 20, FM 22,
shortwave 4 (1998). Radios: 2.85 million (1997). Television
broadcast stations: 15 (plus 5 repeaters) (1995).
Televisions: 1.18 million (1997). Internet Service Providers
(ISPs): 22 (2000). Internet users: 300,000 (2001).
Transportation: Railways: total: 401 km
(unusable because of damage in civil war) (2002). Highways:
total: 7,300 km; paved: 6,198 km; unpaved: 1,102 km (1999 est.).
Ports and harbors: Antilyas, Batroun, Beirut, Chekka, El Mina,
Ez Zahrani, Jbail, Jounie, Naqoura, Sidon, Tripoli, Tyre.
Airports: 8 (2002).
Lebanon lies at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea north of
Israel and west of Syria. It is four-fifths the size of Connecticut. The
Lebanon Mountains, which parallel the coast on the west, cover most of the
country, while on the eastern border is the Anti-Lebanon range. Between
the two lies the Bekaa Valley, the principal agricultural area.
Government
Republic.
History
After World War I, France was given a League of Nations mandate over
Lebanon and its neighbor Syria, which together had previously been a
single political unit in the Ottoman Empire. France divided them in 1920
into separate colonial administrations, drawing a border that separated
mostly Muslim Syria from the kaleidoscope of religious communities in
Lebanon, where Maronite Christians were then dominant. After 20 years of
the French mandate regime, Lebanon's independence was proclaimed on Nov.
26, 1941, but full independence came in stages. Under an agreement between
representatives of Lebanon and the French National Committee of
Liberation, most of the powers exercised by France were transferred to the
Lebanese government on Jan. 1, 1944. The evacuation of French troops was
completed in 1946.
According to the unwritten National Pact, different religious
communities were represented in the government by having a Maronite
Christian president, a Sunni Muslim prime minister, and a Shiite national
assembly speaker. The arrangement worked for two decades.
Civil war broke out in 1958, with Muslim factions led by Kamal Jumblat
and Saeb Salam rising in insurrection against the Lebanese government
headed by President Camille Chamoun, a Maronite Christian favoring close
ties to the West. At Chamoun's request, President Eisenhower, on July 15,
sent U.S. troops to reestablish the government's authority.
Clan warfare between various religious factions in Lebanon goes back
centuries. The hodgepodge includes Maronite Christians, who, since
independence, have dominated the government; Sunni Muslims, who have
prospered in business and shared political power; the Druze, who hold a
faith incorporating aspects of Islam and Gnosticism; and Shiite
Muslims.
A new—and bloodier—Lebanese civil war that broke out in
1975 resulted in the addition of still another ingredient in the
brew—the Syrians. In the fighting between Lebanese factions, 40,000
Lebanese were estimated to have been killed and 100,000 wounded between
March 1975 and Nov. 1976. At that point, Syrian troops intervened at the
request of the Lebanese and brought large-scale fighting to a halt. In
1977 the civil war again flared up and continued until 1990, decimating
the country.
Palestinian guerrillas staging raids on Israel from Lebanese territory
drew punitive Israeli raids on Lebanon and two large-scale Israeli
invasions, in 1978 and again in 1982. In the first invasion, the Israelis
entered the country in March 1978 and withdrew that June, after the UN
Security Council created a 6,000-man peacekeeping force for the area
called UNIFIL. As the UN departed, the Israelis turned their strongholds
over to a Christian militia that they had organized, instead of to the UN
force.
The second Israeli invasion came on June 6, 1982, after an
assassination attempt by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli ambassador
in London. As a base of the PLO, Lebanon became the Israelis' target.
Nearly 7,000 Palestinians were dispersed to other Arab nations. The
violence seemed to have come to an end when, on Sept. 14, Bashir Gemayel,
the 34-year-old president-elect, was killed by a bomb that destroyed the
headquarters of his Christian Phalangist Party. Following his
assassination, Christian militiamen massacred about 1,000 Palestinians in
the Israeli-controlled Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, but Israel denied
responsibility.
The massacre in the refugee camps prompted the return of a
multinational peacekeeping force. Its mandate was to support the central
Lebanese government, but it soon found itself drawn into the struggle for
power between different Lebanese factions. The country was engulfed in
chaos and instability. During their stay in Lebanon, 241 U.S. Marines and
about 60 French soldiers were killed, most of them in suicide bombings of
the U.S. Marine and French army compounds on Oct. 23, 1983. The
multinational force withdrew in the spring of 1984. In 1985, the majority
of Israeli troops withdrew from the country, but Israel left some troops
along a buffer zone on the southern Lebanese border, where they engaged in
ongoing skirmishes with Palestinian groups. The Palestinian terrorist
group Hezbollah, or “Party of God,” was formed in the 1980s
during Israel's second invasion of Lebanon. With financial backing from
Iran, it has launched attacks against Israel for more than 20 years.
In July 1986, Syrian observers took up a position in Beirut to monitor
a peacekeeping agreement. The agreement broke down and fighting between
Shiite and Druze militia in West Beirut became so intense that Syrian
troops mobilized in Feb. 1987, suppressing militia resistance. In 1991 a
treaty of friendship was signed with Syria, which in effect gave Syria
control over Lebanon's foreign relations. In early 1991, the Lebanese
government, backed by Syria, regained control over the south and disbanded
various militias, thereby ending the 16-year civil war, which had
destroyed much of the infrastructure and industry of Lebanon.
In June 1999, just before Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu
left office, Israel bombed southern Lebanon, its most severe attack on the
country since 1996. In May 2000, Israel's new prime minister, Ehud Barak,
withdrew Israeli troops after 18 consecutive years of occupation.
In the summer of 2001, Syria withdrew nearly all of its 25,000 troops
from Beirut and surrounding areas. About 14,000 troops, however, remained
in the countryside. With the continuation of Israeli-Palestinian violence
in 2002, Hezbollah again began building up forces along the
Lebanese-Israeli border.
In Aug. 2004, in a stark reminder of its continuing iron grip on
Lebanon, Syria insisted that Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Émile
Lahoud, remain in office beyond the constitutional limit of one six-year
term. Despite outrage in the country, the Lebanese parliament did Syria's
bidding, permitting Lahoud to serve for three more years.
A UN Security Council resolution in Sept. 2004 demanded that Syria
remove the troops it had stationed in Lebanon for the past 28 years. Syria
responded by moving about 3,000 troops from the vicinity of Beirut to
eastern Lebanon, a gesture that was viewed by many as merely cosmetic. As
a result of the crisis, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (1992–1998,
2000–2004), largely responsible for Lebanon's economic rebirth in
the past decade, resigned. On Feb. 14, 2005, he was killed by a car bomb.
Many suspected Syria of involvement and large protests ensued, calling for
Syria's withdrawal from the country. After two weeks of protests by Sunni
Muslim, Christian, and Druze parties, pro-Syrian prime minister Omar
Karami resigned on Feb. 28. Several days later, Syria made a vague pledge
to withdraw its troops but failed to announce a timetable. On March 8, the
militant group Hezbollah sponsored a massive pro-Syrian rally, primarily
made up of Shiites, that greatly outnumbered previous anti-Syrian
protests. Hundreds of thousands gathered to thank Syria for its
involvement in Lebanon. The pro-Syrian demonstrations led to President
Lahoud's reappointment of Karami as prime minister on March 9. But
thereafter an anti-Syrian protest—twice the size of the Hezbollah
protest—followed. In mid-March, Syria withdrew 4,000 troops and
redeployed the remaining 10,000 to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, which borders
Syria. In April, Omar Karami resigned a second time after failing to form
a government. Lebanon's new prime minister, Najib Mikati—a
compromise candidate between the pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian
groups—announced that new elections would be held in May. On April
26, after 29 years of occupation, Syria withdrew all of its troops.
In May and June 2005, Syria held four rounds of parliamentary
elections. An anti-Syrian alliance led by Saad al-Hariri, the 35-year-old
son of assassinated former prime minister leader Rafik Hariri, won 72 out
of 128 seats. Former finance minister Fouad Siniora, who was closely
associated with Hariri, became prime minister.
On Sept. 1, four were charged in the murder of Rafik Hariri. The
commander of Lebanon's Republican Guard, the former head of general
security, the former chief of Lebanon's police, and the former military
intelligence officer were indicted for the February assassination. On Oct.
20, the UN released a report concluding that the assassination was
carefully organized by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials,
including Syria's military intelligence chief, Asef Shawkat, who is the
brother-in-law of Syrian president Bashar Assad.
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah fighters entered Israel and captured two
Israeli soldiers. In response, Israel launched a major military attack,
bombing the Lebanese airport and other major infrastructures, as well as
parts of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, led by Sheik Hassan Nasrallah,
retaliated by launching hundreds of rockets and missiles into Israel (Iran
supplies Hezbollah with weapons, which are transported through Syria).
After a week of fighting, Israel made it clear that its offensive in
Lebanon would continue until Hezbollah was routed. Although much of the
international community demanded a cease-fire, the United States supported
Israel's plan to continue the fighting until Hezbollah was drained of its
military power (Hezbollah is thought to have at least 12,000 rockets and
missiles and had proved a much more formidable foe than anticipated). On
Aug. 14, a UN-negotiated cease-fire went into effect. The UN planned to
send a 15,000-member peacekeeping force. About 1,150 Lebanese, mostly
civilians, and 150 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died in the 34 days of
fighting. More than 400,000 Lebanese were forced from their homes by the
fighting. Almost immediately, Hezbollah began organizing reconstruction
efforts, and handed out financial aid to families who had lost their
homes, shoring up loyalty from Shiite civilians.
In November, Pierre Gemayel, minister of industry and member of a
well-known Maronite Christian political dynasty, was assassinated, the
fifth anti-Syrian leader to be killed since the death of Rafik Hariri in
Feb. 2005. Pro-government protesters blamed Syria and its Lebanese allies,
and staged large demonstrations following the assassination. These
protests were then followed by even larger and more sustained
demonstrations by Hezbollah supporters. Beginning Dec. 1, tens of
thousands of demonstrators, led by the Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan
Nasrallah, occupied the center of Beirut and called for the resignation of
the pro-Western coalition government.
A commission that investigated 2006's war between Israel and Lebanon
released a scathing report in April 2007, saying Israeli prime minister
Olmert was responsible for "a severe failure in exercising judgment,
responsibility, and prudence." It also said that Olmert rushed to war
without an adequate plan.
About 60 people were killed in May 2007 in battles between government
troops and members of Islamic militant group Fatah al-Islam, which is
based in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. The group is similar in
philosophy to al-Qaeda.
In June 2007, anti-Syrian member of Parliament Walid Eido was killed in
a bombing in Beirut. In September 2007, another anti-Syrian lawmaker,
Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party, which is part of the
governing coalition, was assassinated. Those assassinations were followed
in December with the killing of Gen. François al-Hajj, a top
general who was poised to succeed army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman.
In September 2007, Hezbollah legislators boycotted the session of
Parliament at which lawmakers were to vote on a new president. The
Hezbollah faction, which is pro-Syria, wants the anti-Syrian governing
coalition to put forward a compromise candidate. Parliament adjourned the
session and rescheduled elections. A caretaker government, led by Prime
Minister Fouad Siniroa, took over on November 24 after President
Émile Lahoud's term expired and Parliament for the fourth time
postponed a vote on his successor.
In January 2008, the Winograd Commission released its final report on
Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon. It called the operation a
"large and serious" failure and criticized the country's leadership for
failing to have an exit strategy in place before the invasion began. Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert was spared somewhat, as the commission said that in
ordering the invasion, he was acting in "the interest of the state of
Israel."
Tension in Lebanon peaked in February, after the assassination of top
Hezbollah military commander, Imad Mugniyah. He was killed in a car
bombing in Damascus, Syria. Mugniyah is thought to have orchestrated a
series of bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s and 1990s, and he was one
of America's most wanted men with a price tag of $25 million on his head.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who accused Israel for arranging the
assassination, called for an "open war" against Israel.
Sectarian violence between Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Shiite militia,
and Sunnis broke out in May, after the government threatened to shut down
a telecommunications network run by Hezbollah, calling it illegal. Members
of Hezbollah took control of large swaths of western Beirut, forced a
government-supported television station off the air, and burned the
offices of a newspaper loyal to the government. The government accused
Hezbollah of staging an "armed coup." About 30 people died in the
violence.
