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 Lebanon



Geography

Total area: 10,400 km²; land area: 10,230 km²

Comparative area: about 0.8 times the size of Connecticut

Land boundaries: 454 km total; Israel 79 km, Syria 375 km

Coastline: 225 km

Maritime claim:
 * Territorial sea: 2 nm

Disputes: separated from Israel by the 1949 Armistice Line; Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982; Syrian troops in northern Lebanon since October 1976

Climate: Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers

Terrain: narrow coastal plain; Al Biqā‘ separates Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains

Natural resources: limestone, iron ore, salt; water-surplus state in a water-deficit region

Land use: 21% arable land; 9% permanent crops; 1% meadows and pastures; 8% forest and woodland; 61% other; includes 7% irrigated

Environment: rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, ethnicity; deforestation; soil erosion; air and water pollution; desertification

Note: Nahr al Līţānī only major river in Near East not crossing an international boundary

People

Population: 3,339,331 (July 1990), growth rate 1.3% (1990)

Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -8 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 49 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years male, 70 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun Lebanese (sing., pl.); adjective Lebanese

Ethnic divisions: 93% Arab, 6% Armenian, 1% other

Religion: 75% Islam, 25% Christian, NEGL% Judaism; 17 legally recognized sects—4 Orthodox Christian (Armenian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Nestorean, Syriac Orthodox), 7 Uniate Christian (Armenian Catholic, Caldean, Greek Catholic, Maronite, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Syrian Catholic), 5 Islam (Alawite or Nusayri, Druze, Isma‘ilite, Shi‘a, Sunni), and 1 Jewish

Language: Arabic and French (both official); Armenian, English

Literacy: 75%

Labor force: 650,000; 79% industry, commerce, and services, 11% agriculture, 10% gover n ment (1985)

Organized labor: 250,000 members (est.)

Government

Note: Between early 1975 and late 1976 Lebanon was torn by civil war between its Christians—then aided by Syrian troops—and its Muslims and their Palestinian allies. The cease-fire established in October 1976 between the domestic political groups generally held for about six years, despite occasional fighting. Syrian troops constituted as the Arab Deterrent Force by the Arab League have remained in Lebanon. Syria's move toward supporting the Lebanese Muslims and the Palestinians and Israel's growing support for Lebanese Christians brought the two sides into rough equilibrium, but no progress was made toward national reconciliation or political reforms—the original cause of the war.

Continuing Israeli concern about the Palestinian presence in Lebanon led to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in June 1982. Israeli forces occupied all of the southern portion of the country and mounted a summer-long siege of Beirut, which resulted in the evacuation of the PLO from Beirut in September under the supervision of a multinational force (MNF) made up of US, French, and Italian troops. Within days of the departure of the MNF, Lebanon's newly elected president, Bashir Gemayel, was assassinated. In the wake of his death, Christian militiamen massacred hundreds of Palestinian refugees in two Beirut camps. This prompted the return of the MNF to ease the security burden on Lebanon's weak Army and security forces. In late March 1984 the last MNF units withdrew.

Lebanese Parliamentarians met in Ta’if, Saudi Arabia in late 1989 and concluded a national reconciliation pact that codified a new power-sharing formula, specif i ying a Christian president but giving Muslims more authority. Rene Muawad was subsequently elected president on 4 November 1989, ending a 13-month period during which Lebanon had no president and rival Muslim and Christian governments. Muawad was assassinated 17 days later, on 22 November; on 24 November Elias Harawi was elected to succeed Muawad.

Progress toward lasting political compromise in Lebanon has been stalled by opposition from Christian strongman Gen. Michel ‘Awn. ‘Awn—appointed acting Prime Minister by outgoing president Amin Gemayel in September 1988—called the national reconciliation accord illegitimate and has refused to recognize the new Lebanese Government.

Lebanon continues to be partially occupied by Syrian troops. Syria augmented its troop presence during the weeks following Muawad's assassination. Troops are deployed in West Beirut and its southern suburbs, in Al Biqā‘, and in northern Lebanon. Iran also maintains a small contingent of revolutionary guards in Al Biqā‘, from which it supports Lebanese Islamic fundamentalist groups.

Israel withdrew the bulk of its forces from the south in 1985, although it still retains troops in a 10-km-deep security zone north of its border with Lebanon. Israel arms and trains the Army of South Lebanon (ASL), which also occupies the security zone and is Israel's first line of defense against attacks on its northern border.

The following description is based on the present constitutional and customary practices of the Lebanese system.

Long-form name: Republic of Lebanon; note—may be changed to Lebanese Republic

Type: republic

Capital: Beirut

Administrative divisions: 5 governorates (muḥāfaz̧at, singular—muḥāfaz̧ah); Al Biqā‘, Al Janūb, Ash Shamāl, Bayrūt, Jabal Lubnān

Independence: 22 November 1943 (from League of Nations mandate under French administration)

Constitution: 26 May 1926 (amended)

Legal system: mixture of Ottoman law, canon law, Napoleonic code, and civil law; no judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: Independence Day, 22 November (1943) 177