Lebanon (country)

Government
Lebanon is a multiparty parliamentary democracy in which high-ranking offices in the government are reserved for members of specific religious groups, in an effort to prevent sectarian conflict. Under its constitution, there is a single-chamber legislature, the national assembly. It has 128 members, half of whom are Christians and half Muslims, who are elected by universal adult suffrage, through a party list system of proportional representation. The assembly serves a four-year term, but, in practice, civil war has sometimes prevented the holding of elections. The president is elected by the assembly for a non-renewable six-year term. On the nomination of the assembly, the president appoints a prime minister and cabinet who are collectively responsible to the assembly. The president must be a Maronite Catholic Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the deputy prime minister an Orthodox Christian and the speaker of the national assembly a Shi'a Muslim. Under a 1990 amendment to the constitution, to reflect the Muslim majority that has emerged since 1947 and part of the Taif Accord which ended the 1975–90 civil war, the president's powers are much diminished.

History
The area now known as Lebanon was once occupied by Phoenicia, an empire that flourished from the 5th century BC to the 1st century AD, when it came under Roman rule. Christianity was introduced during the Roman occupation, and Islam arrived with the Arabs in 635. Lebanon was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire from the 16th century, until administered by France under a League of Nations mandate 1920–41. It was declared independent in 1941, became a republic in 1943, and achieved full autonomy in 1944.

Lebanon has a wide variety of religions, including Christianity and many Islamic sects. For many years these coexisted peacefully, giving Lebanon a stability that enabled it, until the mid 1970s, to be a commercial and financial centre. Beirut's thriving business district was largely destroyed in 1975–76, and Lebanon's role as an international trader has been greatly diminished.

PLO presence in Lebanon
After the establishment of Israel in 1948, thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in Beirut in 1964, had its headquarters in Lebanon 1971–82 (it moved to Tunis in 1982). The PLO presence in Lebanon was the main reason for Israeli invasions and much of the subsequent civil strife.

Fighting was largely between left-wing Muslims, led by Kamul Jumblatt of the Progressive Socialist Party, and conservative Christian groups, mainly members of the Phalangist Party. There was also conflict between pro-Iranian traditional Muslims, such as the Shiites, and Syrian-backed deviationist Muslims, such as the Druze.

Civil war from 1975
In 1975 the fighting developed into full-scale civil war that was to last until 1990. The civil war claimed an estimated 150,000 lives and left 200,000 injured and devastated the country's infrastructure and economy.

A ceasefire was agreed in 1976, but fighting erupted again in 1978, when Israeli forces invaded Lebanon in search of PLO guerrillas. The United Nations (UN) secured Israel's agreement to a withdrawal and set up an international peacekeeping force, but to little avail. In 1979 Major Saad Haddad, a right-wing Lebanese army officer, with Israeli encouragement, declared an area of about 1,800 sq km/700 sq mi in southern Lebanon an ‘independent free Lebanon’, and the following year Maronite Christian Phalangist soldiers took over an area north of Beirut. Throughout this turmoil the Lebanese government was virtually powerless. In 1982 Bachir Gemayel (youngest son of Pierre Gemayel, the founder of the right-wing Phalangist Party) became president. He was assassinated before he could assume office and his brother Amin took his place. Israeli forces invaded for a second time in 1982, driving to Beirut and forcing the expulsion of PLO guerrillas and leaders to Syrian-held areas and to Tunisia. They were to remain in southern Lebanon until 2000.

Efforts to end hostilities
In 1983, after exhaustive talks between Lebanon and Israel, under US auspices, an agreement declared an end to hostilities and called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country within three months. Syria refused to recognize the agreement and left about 40,000 troops, with about 7,000 PLO fighters, in northern Lebanon. Israel responded by refusing to take its forces from the south. Meanwhile, a full-scale war began between Phalangist and Druze (a distinctive Islamic community) soldiers in the Chouf Mountains, ending in a Christian defeat and the creation of a Druze-controlled ministate. The multinational force was drawn gradually but unwillingly into the conflict until it was withdrawn in the spring of 1984. Unsuccessful attempts were made in 1985 and 1986 to end the civil war. Meanwhile, Lebanon, and particularly Beirut, became a battlefield for the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah and Syrian-backed Shiite Amal factions.

In 1988 President Assad of Syria, with the agreement of the Lebanese government and Iran, sent his troops into South Beirut in an attempt to restore order and secure the release of hostages believed to be held there. Gemayel's term as president ended and, after failure to agree a suitable Maronite Christian successor, the outgoing president appointed Gen Michel Aoun to head a caretaker military government. The civil war in Beirut continued, with the East Beirut ‘administration’ of Gen Aoun, backed by Christian army units and Lebanese militia forces (although 30% of them were Muslim), pitted against the West Beirut ‘administration’ (Muslim) of Premier Selim al-Hoss, supported by the Syrian army and Muslim militia allies, including Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party (Druze).

Ceasefire and end to civil war 1989–90
In May 1989 the Arab League secured a ceasefire agreement. In October 1989, in Taif, Saudi Arabia, an agreement was signed by the key parties to end the civil war, agree a framework for withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, and reform Lebanon's constitution to reduce the powers of the Christian president and give Muslims the same number of seats as Christians in the legislature.

Despite Aoun's opposition, in November 1989 René Muawad, a Maronite Christian, was made president. However, within days he was killed by a car bomb. Another Maronite, Elias Hrawi, was named as his successor. Aoun continued to defy the elected president for a further year, but eventually surrendered and took refuge in the French embassy; he was later pardoned.

Hostages released
In 1990 it was estimated that 18 Westerners, including eight Americans, were being held hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian Shiite Muslim groups; many had been held incommunicado for years. In August the release of the hostages began. The Hrawi administration regained control of Beirut and by 1992, because of improved relations with Syria and Iran, and the efforts of the UN secretary general, all Western hostages had been released.

Gradually, a sense of normality returned to Lebanon, and particularly Beirut, with Syrian troops helping to maintain order. The 1992 general election was boycotted by many Christians, but the re-election of the pro-Syrian administration, with the moderate billionaire businessman Rafik al-Hariri as prime minister, offered promise of a lasting peace. Under al-Hariri the economy and infrastructure began to be reconstructed. Al-Hariri remained prime minister until 1998, when he was dismissed by General Emile Lahoud, a Christian Maronite and the Syrian-backed chief of Lebanon's army, who had been elected president, and Salim al-Hoss became the new prime minister.

Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon
Syrian-backed Shi'a Islamic Hezbollah guerrillas remained active in southern Lebanon, provoking intermittent raids by Israeli forces which continued to occupy a buffer zone. Fighting between the two escalated in 1996, ending a 1993 Israeli-Hezbollah agreement not to strike first against each other and not to attack civilians. In April 1996 Israeli helicopter gunships rocketed Beirut for the first time since 1982, killing 23 civilians, in retaliation for Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel. During 1996, fighting between Muslim guerrillas and Israeli forces and their militia allies in South Lebanon claimed 255 lives. However, in what was Israel's greatest military humiliation in Lebanon since 1985, 12 Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in southern Lebanon in September 1997.

The May 1999 general election in Israel brought to power Ehud Barak, who promised to withdraw the South Lebanon Army (SLA), Israel's proxy army in southern Lebanon, by mid 2000, as it was hoped that Hezbollah guerrilla attacks would cease without this Israeli presence and that it would increase the possibilities of a resolution of the Israel and Palestinian dispute. The international community sought an orderly withdrawal, based around agreement between Israel and Hezbollah's Syrian backers. However, during 1999 and 2000 there was instability in the area and Israeli warplane bombings of Beirut, power stations, and bridges, in retaliation for Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel.

In May 2000, the Israeli army staged a hasty withdrawal from southern Lebanon, with the exception of the Shebaa Farms, a 50 sq km zone in the mountains. The retreat left the Hezbollah and Israelis without a buffer zone on the border. In July 2000, Hezbollah forces in the frontier area were replaced with Lebanese government troops, together with almost 400 UN peacekeeper soldiers (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon) on the border.

Assassination of al-Hariri
In October 2000, Rafik al-Hariri became prime minister again after a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections. His criticisms of Syria for keeping 35,000 troops in south Lebanon, prompted the withdrawal, in June 2001, of 6,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon.

In September 2004, Hariri resigned as prime minister, in protest against the assembly agreeing to extend Lahoud's term as president by three years. In February 2005, al-Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb attack. Many blamed pro-Syrian groups for the assassination and there were public protests calling for an end to the Syrian presence in Lebanon. This forced a Syrian withdrawal in April 2005. In June 2005, Fouad Siniora, a long-time associate of Hariri, became prime minister.

2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict
In July 2006 conflict broke out between Hezbollah guerrillas, based in southern Lebanon, and Israel, leading to a month-long war with Israel, which claimed 1,200 (mainly Lebanese) lives and left hundreds of thousands as displaced refugees.

The conflict was sparked by Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli military positions and border villages in early July 2006, with two Israeli soldiers taken hostage and eight killed. Israel responded with massive air and artillery strikes, destroying Lebanon's infrastructure, including its international airport, and an air and naval blockade. There followed a ground invasion by the Israeli army, which faced fierce guerrilla resistance by Hezbollah. The UN brokered an end to hostilities in mid August 2006, based on the disarmament of Hezbollah, withdrawal of Israeli troops and the stationing of Lebanese troops, with UN support, in southern Lebanon. By October 2006, Israel had withdrawn its troops. Its failure to destroy Hezbollah meant that it had failed to achieve its war aims.