Lebanon

I

INTRODUCTION

Lebanon (Arabic Lubnan) is a republic on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Southwest Asia. Lebanon’s coastal location, high mountain backbone, and climate have greatly influenced the country’s history, peoples, and economy. The coastal area of present-day Lebanon was settled more than 7,000 years ago and later evolved as the heart of seafaring Phoenicia.
To help conduct their sea trade, the Phoenicians developed the first alphabet and colonized the western Mediterranean. In the early centuries ad, a largely Christian population and culture arose, which later blended with—though was not overwhelmed by—Islamic influences. Following centuries of Ottoman control, France ruled Lebanon under a League of Nations mandate after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in World War I (1914-1918). During World War II (1939-1945) Lebanon became an independent republic and for three decades prospered under a free-market economy. However, the country experienced increasing hostility among rival religious groups, especially between Christians and Muslims. These and other domestic tensions, intensified by foreign influences, erupted into the devastating Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Beirut is Lebanon’s capital, principal port, and largest city.

II

THE PEOPLE OF LEBANON

Lebanon has not taken a census since 1932. The 1997 estimated population was 3,111,828, but this figure, provided by the Lebanese government, does not include Palestinian refugees and foreign workers, mainly Syrian. An independent 2008 estimate placed the population at 3,971,941, yielding a population density of 388 persons per sq km (1,006 per sq mi). Densities are highest along the coast and on the lower western slopes of the Lebanon Mountains. Some 88 percent of the population is urban. Emigration from Lebanon to other countries, especially among Christians, has been steady since the mid-19th century, and it increased sharply during the civil war. Within the country, thousands of Shia Muslim refugees fled fighting in southern Lebanon in the 1990s and moved into shantytowns in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Lebanon’s major cities were greatly affected by the civil war. Beirut has gradually regained most of its prewar population and remains the country’s largest city. Tripoli, the northern port, is the second largest city. Jūniyah, north of Beirut, was developed as a wartime port and subsequently had a population boom. Zaḩlah, overlooking the Bekáa, and the southern coastal towns of Şaydā (Sidon) and Şūr (ancient Tyre) all suffered from attacks in the 1980s and 1990s.

A

Ethnic Groups and Languages

About 93 percent of the population is within the Arab ethnolinguistic group. Like many such groups, Lebanese Arabs have a diverse ancestry—genetic testing indicates that many carry specific genes of the ancient Canaanites and Phoenicians. About 5 percent of the population is Armenian, and the remaining 2 percent of the population belongs to Kurdish, Assyrian, or other ethnicities. Among the Arab population are more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees. Palestinian refugees are considered stateless, and they face an uncertain future. Arabic is the official language, but French is commonly used, especially in government and among the upper class. English is also widely used, particularly as the language of business and education. Most Armenians speak Armenian.

B

Religion

The government policy of confessionalism, or the grouping of people by religion, plays a critical role in Lebanon’s political and social life and has given rise to Lebanon’s most persistent and bitter conflicts. At the time of Lebanon’s independence in the 1940s, there were more Christians than Muslims. In the following years, many Muslims immigrated to Lebanon and had a higher birthrate than the Christians; as a result, Muslims became the majority group in Lebanon. Today, an estimated 70 percent of Lebanese are Muslim, while most of the remaining 30 percent are Christian. Every person’s religion is encoded on a required, government-issued identification card. The government recognizes 17 distinct religious sects: 5 Muslim (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Ismailite, and Alawite), 11 Christian (4 Orthodox, 6 Catholic, and 1 Protestant), and Judaism.

C

Education

Lebanon has one of the most educated and technically prepared populations in the Middle East. In 2005, 88 percent of Lebanese aged 15 and older were literate. Primary education in Lebanon is free and compulsory for five years; school attendance is near universal for primary school-aged children. Beirut is home to six universities: the well-known American University of Beirut; the Jesuit-sponsored Saint Joseph University; the government-supported Lebanese University; the Egyptian-sponsored Beirut Arab University; the Lebanese American University; and the Armenian Hagazian College. Lebanon also has more than 100 technical, vocational, and other specialized schools.

V					ECONOMY

Gross domestic product (GDP in U.S.$)	$23 billion (2006)
GDP per capita (U.S.$)	$5,603.10 (2006)
Monetary unit	1 Lebanese pound (£L), consisting of 100 piastres
Number of workers	1,624,006 (2006)
Unemployment rate	8.6 percent (1997)

Before the civil war, Lebanon developed as a free-market economy with minimal government regulations. Because the country had a stable and open economy and strict laws regarding secrecy in banking, Beirut became the banking and investment center of the Middle East. From 1975 to 1990, however, warfare severely dislocated most economic sectors and destroyed structures and infrastructures totaling an estimated $25 billion to $30 billion. As the war damaged Lebanon’s economy, most of the rest of the Middle East experienced an economic boom, and businesses moved from Beirut to other Middle East economic centers. Lebanon’s economy did not collapse completely during the war, however, largely because foreign aid to competing militias fueled the wartime economy.

Since 1991 Lebanon’s economy has revived. Annual inflation, about 500 percent in 1987, was manageable by the mid-1990s and low by the start of the 21st century. Gross domestic product (GDP) totaled $22.7 billion in 2006. Horizon 2000, a multibillion-dollar reconstruction program to rebuild Beirut’s central district, is the main focus of the government’s energies. In general, the government is low on funds and has increasingly privatized public functions, including some official monopolies, such as the postal service and the lucrative mobile phone service.

A

Agriculture

Historically, agriculture was a key element in Lebanon’s economy. In the 19th century, mountain clans built thousands of stone terraces to facilitate their farming of steep slopes. Agriculture, including forestry and fishing, employs only 7 percent of workers and contributes only 7 percent of GDP. Cultivated fields cover 17 percent of Lebanon, and 14 percent is in permanent crops (orchards and vineyards). Premium produce, especially oranges and peaches, are a valuable export. The intensively farmed coastal plain produces citrus, bananas, vegetables, melons, and strawberries, while the lower slopes of the mountainsides support vineyards and fruit orchards of olives, figs, peaches, cherries, and plums. Apples are grown at higher elevations. The Bekáa produces wheat, barley, sugar beets, tobacco, grapes, and fruits. Farm-raised animals include goats, sheep, cattle, pigs, and chickens.

B

Transportation and Communications

Since the end of the war, Lebanon has sought to restore its essential transportation facilities. For a mountain country, Lebanon has a dense network of roads, and 85 percent of the roads are paved. In 1975 three rail lines served Lebanon, but these deteriorated and became inoperable during the war. Beirut International Airport underwent a major expansion, completed in 2001, that greatly increased its handling capacity. Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines (MEA), once a large and efficient private company, deteriorated during the 1980s and was turned over to the government.

The formerly bustling seaport of Beirut was isolated during the war and lost its role as the transit port for nearby Syria and Jordan. In the late 1990s the Lebanese government undertook two major port construction projects: the rehabilitation and expansion of Beirut’s port, and the construction of a new port at Şaydā. Tripoli is Lebanon’s second most important port. Jūniyah’s port expanded greatly during the 1980s.

In the mid-1990s the government closed down the many unregulated wartime radio and television stations that had emerged during the civil war, and then relicensed a smaller, more manageable, number. Lebanese press is comparatively free of government interference. Some 15 daily newspapers are published in Arabic, French, Armenian, and English, with a similar number of weeklies and monthlies.

C

Foreign Trade

In addition to the very important domestic and transit trade, foreign trade plays a major role in the Lebanese economy. Traditionally, Lebanon’s balance of trade has been overwhelmingly unfavorable; in 2003 exports totaled $1,524 million, while imports totaled $7.2 billion. Nonetheless, in the 1990s Lebanon maintained a total balance-of-payments surplus because it received large inflows of money in the form of remittances from family members who lived abroad, investments in postwar reconstruction, and deposits in savings accounts that took advantage of high interest rates. However, after 1999 the trade deficit grew faster than these various cash inflows, and Lebanon reported a balance-of-payments deficit of $1.15 billion in 2001. Exports go mainly to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Switzerland, the United States, and France. Imports come from Italy, France, Germany, the United States, and Switzerland. Lebanon’s chief exports are food and food products, paper products, chemicals, textiles, jewelry, and metal products. Imports include automobiles, trucks, heavy equipment, communications equipment, electronic goods, appliances, machinery, and petroleum and petroleum products.

D

Currency and Banking

The unit of currency is the Lebanese pound or lira, consisting of 100 piastres (1,508 Lebanese pounds equal U.S.$1; 2006 average). The Banque du Liban is the central bank and the sole bank of issue. All other banks are private. Lebanon’s financial laws require secrecy in banking, and there are few restrictions on the free flow of funds. These qualities attracted many foreign banks between 1956 and 1975, making Beirut the banking center of the Middle East. Beirut’s financial services industry collapsed during the civil war but has begun a gradual recovery. A stock exchange, closed in 1983 but reopened in 1996, is located in Beirut.

IV

HISTORY

Lebanon’s coastal plain is divided into several isolated sections by gorges, which are cut by streams that pour down the mountains in winter and spring. In ancient times, north-south movement along the plain was nearly impossible. Villages developed on larger sections of the plain, and those with good harbors and better agricultural areas evolved into the city-states of Phoenicia. These cities then used the Mediterranean Sea to communicate and trade with one another and beyond the coastal plain. Due to geographical and other barriers, however, Phoenicia never unified politically. Later, mountainous areas provided protection for groups seeking refuge, but these groups, too, were isolated and did not form a unified nation. The modern nation of Lebanon was formed after World War I (1914-1918), when the defeated Ottoman Empire, which had controlled the area, was divided. When France received a mandate from the League of Nations to rule Lebanon after the war, the region’s people were aligned along religious and cultural lines, but felt little unity based on a Lebanese nationality. Lebanon still lacks unity today, which has led both to a diverse culture and extreme conflicts.

A

Prehistory and Ancient History

Early peoples occupied the coastal plain and the Bekáa Valley during the Old Stone Age, or Paleolithic. Much later, numerous villages thrived in both areas during the New Stone Age, or Neolithic, roughly 7,000 to 9,000 years ago. Still later, several waves of people, mostly Semites, surged into the region from the interior, likely the Arabian Peninsula. Ancient records show that by 2800 bc, cedar timber from Byblos was being traded for metals and ivory from Egypt. About 2200 bc, Semitic Amorites arrived from Arabia and Syria, and from the western Amorites the Canaanites evolved along the full length of the Levant, the region along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. During succeeding centuries the Canaanites developed the most favored coastal villages into celebrated city-states: Tripoli, Byblos, Beirut, Sidon, and Tyre. By about 1100 bc the northern Canaanites became known as Phoenicians (from the Greek word phoinos, meaning “red,” a reference to the unique purple dye the Phoenicians produced from murex seashells). The Phoenicians developed the first alphabet and mastered the art of navigation, and they dominated the Mediterranean Sea trade for 400 to 450 years. Phoenicians adjusted easily to successive conquerors: Assyrians in 867 bc; Babylonians in the 590s bc; Persians in 538 bc; and Greeks under Alexander the Great in 333 bc. However, Phoenician trade declined with Greek competition after the 5th century bc.

B

Romans and Byzantines

In 64 bc the Romans began an imperial rule over the area that continued under the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) for 573 years. Under Rome, Phoenicians prospered again as they rebuilt fleets and made great cultural progress. The Sidonians grew wealthy with their invention of blown glass. The Romans greatly influenced the regional culture, as evidenced by the majestic ruins of Roman temples in Lebanon, particularly in Baalbek. The school of law in Beirut became famous while the region was under Roman rule, and the Semitic Phoenician language yielded to the regionally spoken Semitic Aramaic, introducing new elements to Phoenician culture. Under the Orthodox Byzantines, Christianity became deeply rooted. In the 6th century ad monks introduced silkworms from China, and a silk industry developed that brought wealth for centuries. Around the same time, earthquakes destroyed Beirut and its law school and badly damaged the great temples in Baalbek.

C

Ottoman Empire

In 1516 the Ottomans, centered in Constantinople, extended their conquests to include Lebanon, but gave the region considerable autonomy. Under Ottoman overlords, amirs (princes) of two local dynasties ruled successively: the Maans (1516-1697) and the Shihabs (1697-1842), both Druze families. Maan amir Fakhr al-Din II (1586-1635), a tolerant Europeanized Druze, introduced Western-style development. The later amirs of the Shihabs became Maronites and, under Bashir II (1788-1840), turned against their Druze neighbors. This turmoil in the Lebanon Mountains prompted tighter Ottoman control, though it did not put an end to Maronite-Druze hostility. In battles in 1860 the Druze massacred more than 10,000 Christians, mostly Maronites. European powers landed forces to quell the fighting and encourage better and more open administration. A relative freedom emerged as a result, attracting Arab intellectuals and foreign missionaries. In 1866 the Syrian Protestant College was founded in Beirut and in 1920 was renamed the American University of Beirut. The American Press was established in Beirut in 1834, followed by the Catholic Press in 1874. In 1875 Saint Joseph University was established by French Jesuit priests. Lebanon rapidly became the most literate and best-educated country in the Arab world. World War I (1914-1918) interrupted prosperity with chaos and famine in the Lebanon Mountains, but the Allied defeat of the Ottoman Empire ended Ottoman control over the Levant.

D

Independence to 1975

With independence in 1943, practical Lebanese political leaders forged an unwritten National Pact designed to promote cooperation and conciliation among the rival confessional (religious) groups. The concept of a confessional democracy was unique. The National Pact was partly grounded in the 1932 census, which ranked the major sects in order of population as Maronites, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Greek Orthodox, Druze, and Greek Catholics. Among the pact’s provisions, Maronites and Sunni Muslims were assured dominant political roles in proportion to their 1932 populations. The agreement faced early stresses in 1948 and 1958. In 1948 the stresses were external: The first Arab-Israeli war broke out, and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled their homes as Israeli troops advanced on them. About 150,000 Palestinians became refugees in Lebanon. Embittered and predominantly Muslim, they threatened the fragile confessional balance. In May 1958 internal tensions were high when President Camille Chamoun provoked political foes, especially Druze and Sunni Muslims, by challenging the constitution in an attempt to gain a second term. A short civil war erupted. Outside interference by several neighbors, along with general tensions in the Middle East, again greatly escalated the stresses. The United States, fearing the war’s effect on the wider region, landed 14,000 Marines on beaches south of Beirut on July 15. The Marines’ presence helped stabilize the country, and by early August the fighting was finished. In three months of warfare, an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 people were killed.

Chamoun’s successor, Fouad Chehab (Shihab), restored confidence and advanced Lebanon’s economic boom. Chehab attempted to reform feudal values and bridge sectarian rifts—for example, by increasing membership in parliament from 66 to 99, thereby providing more seats to more sects. His successor in 1964, Charles Helou, continued Chehab’s programs but was thwarted by the severe aftereffects of the 1967 Six-Day War between Arabs and Israel. The war sent another wave of Palestinian refugees to Lebanon. Although Helou kept his country neutral during the war, the fighting and other Middle East tensions triggered complex domestic conflicts which neither Helou nor his successor after 1970, Sulayman Franjiyah, could stop. In most of the conflicts, overlapping groups of Muslims, Arab nationalists, Palestinians, and various leftists were aligned on one side. On the other side were Christians, supporters of the West, wealthy rightists, and supporters of the status quo. Cross-alliances permeated several factions. The most militant Palestinians, including growing numbers of the heavily armed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) militia, soon developed a state within a state. Since, most of the Lebanese army sympathized with the Palestinians; the government could not easily challenge the PLO. In the Cairo Agreement of 1969, Lebanon’s neighbors forced the government to let the PLO use its territory to mount raids on northern Israel. The situation worsened after the PLO was expelled from Jordan in 1970. Most of the refugees from Jordan, including more armed militiamen, regrouped in Lebanon. By this time, the Lebanese government was too weak and vulnerable to impose any significant controls on the Palestinians.

In 1972 the PLO opened its headquarters in Beirut. From southern Lebanon, PLO Fatah fedayeen (commandos) periodically launched hit-and-run attacks on northern Israel. Israel responded with raids on the PLO in Lebanon. The Israeli attacks were often more severe and on a larger scale than PLO attacks on Israel and often impacted civilian areas. The feeble, divided Lebanese government was unable to restrain attacks by either side and watched helplessly as the destruction and death among its citizens mounted. In May 1973 Palestinians and Lebanese soldiers had a brief, sharp clash in Beirut, a foretaste of the civil war to come.

E

War in Lebanon

The Lebanese Civil War began on April 13, 1975, with a strike and counterstrike: Gunmen attacked Christian Phalangists (members of the Kataib faction) at a Beirut church, killing several, and hours later, Phalangists ambushed a busload of Palestinians, killing 27. Months of brutal battles followed, prompting military intervention by Syria. The fighting began to calm and a ceasefire in November 1976 yielded a lull. However, PLO attacks on northern Israel continued, bringing Israeli reprisals in Lebanon. A heavy strike by PLO fedayeen produced an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon in March 1978. During the invasion, Israel created a self-proclaimed security zone on the southern border of Lebanon, which was manned by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Lebanese militia sympathetic to Israel. After three months, most of the Israeli troops withdrew. To help reduce attacks in the area, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was deployed in the southern part of the country. Between 1980 and 1982, fighting became rampant in Beirut again, with vicious militia wars, car bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations. Aiming to pacify the Palestinians and punish Lebanon for hosting them, Israel launched “Operation Peace for Galilee,” a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, in June 1982. Israel pushed north to Beirut forcing a PLO retreat. Through international mediation, thousands of PLO troops and Syrians were evacuated from Beirut and Tripoli by sea in August, and a multinational force made up of U.S., French, British, and Italian troops tried to stabilize the situation. Nearly 18,000 Lebanese, in addition to many Palestinians and Syrians, were killed in the Israeli invasion.

In September 1982 the president-elect, Kataib leader Bashir Gemayel (Jumayyil), was assassinated and replaced by his brother, Amin Gemayel. Two days after the assassination, an assault by mainly Kataib forces, with indirect Israeli agreement and direct logistical aid, led to the massacre of more than 800 civilians in the Sabra-Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. Fighting continued sporadically, and in October 1983 more than 300 U.S. and French troops were killed by a truck bomb in Beirut. The bombing prompted the multinational force to withdraw. Violence continued from 1983 to 1985, and a second multinational force returned for six months. In June 1985 Israel withdrew most of its 1983 invasion forces, again leaving a small occupying force in the south. Palestinians making commando raids on northern Israel were joined and later replaced by a new extremist group, Hezbollah (Party of God), which enjoyed Iranian support and Syrian approval.