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                                                            Lebanon

Danilo Antón

Geography

Lebanon is a small country in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Its area is 10,452 km2 and the population is approximately 4,500,000 inhabitants. The Lebanese geographical environment is heterogeneous. It consists of a narrow coastal plain on the Mediterranean Sea that  has less than 3 kilometers wide and is very densely populated. From the plain, the relief rises abruptly up to a very humid mountain range parallel to the coast with forests of cedars and pines called Mount Lebanon exceeding 2,000 meters high and whose highest peak is Qumat as Sawda 'of 3.088 meters. East of Mount Lebanon is the Beqaa, an elongated valley 120 kilometers long and about 18 km wide average which is the main agricultural region of the country. Finally, to the east there is another mountain range called Anti-Lebanon, which marks the border with Syria. The highest peaks ar Mount Hermon of 2,814 meters, and Ta'la't Musa of 2.669 meters.

Despite its smallness, the historical and geopolitical importance of the country far exceeds its size and population. It is worth remembering that the Lebanese diaspora in the world is much larger than the country's own population. It is estimated that there are more than 14 million Lebanese descendants distributed worldwide. Only in Brazil they are estimated at 6 million, there are more than 1 million in Argentina, 500,000 in the United States, 200,000 in Canada and 50,000 in Uruguay.

History                                                                                          Beirut

The Lebanese territory is populated by semitic ethnic groups who came 3,500 years ago from the South and founded several cities on the coast, Byblos, Sidon, Tyre (now Beirut). These maritime merchants were called Phoenicians by the Greeks. It was in Biblos, around 2000 BC, the first alphabet composed exclusively of consonants was created. From the shores of Phoenicia came out commercial expeditions and several commercial cities were founded in the Mediterranean sea, among others Carthage, Genoa, Venice, Marseille, Cadiz, Cagliari, Palermo, Malaga. Huelva, Tarragona and Tangier.  Phoenicia fell under Assyrian domination, (IX-VII centuries BC), Babylonian (VII-VI centuries) Persian (VI-IV centuries B.C.), Greek (I IV centuries BC) and in 54 B.C. It became part of the Roman province of Syria. The Arab period began in 636 A.D. until 1516 when the Lebanese territory (Phoenicia) was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans granted partial-autonomy to Lebanon under the rule of the Maans, a Druze feudal family and the Shibabs a Sunni family that had converted to Christianity.            
Mount Lebanon

After World War Lebanon and Syria became a French mandate of the League of Nations until 1943 Lebanon unilaterally declared its independence.

From the religious point of view the country is divided into numerous religions and churches. The percentages have varied due to emigration and presence of refugees, but in recent years Muslims have constituted almost 60% of the population, of which 27% are Shi'a, predominantly Twelvers or Imanies Shiites and   Sunni the rest. There are also Alawite and Ismaili minorities. Christians, principally composed by members of the Maronite Catholic church represent 30%  of the population. This church, which was founded by St. Maron in the late fourth century, is an Eastern Rite church that is in full communion with the Apostolic See of Rome, without giving up their structures and rithuals.  In addition to Muslims and Christians there are  5% Druzes (a monotheistic religion that does not practice the five pillars of Islam and the Christian Eucharist).                                                
Beqaa valley

These various religions had several confrontations throughout history.  Lebanese addressed this situation whan independence was declared with an unwritten agreement that distributed  power between different ethnic and religious communities. It was agreed that the president would be a Maronite, the Parliament Speaker, Shiite, the Prime Minister, Sunni and the Deputy Prime Minister corresponding to the Greek Orthodox religion.

After the Second World War the region acquired a great instability due to the decolonization processes that resulted in the separation of Syria and Lebanon. Both countries became independent and in the same epoch Britain withdrew from Palestine. The latter coincided with the creation of the state of Israel from the Jewish settlements that had gradually established on Palestinian land. Conflicts between Arabs and Jews in Israel were reflected in Lebanon who was forced to receive a very large contingent of Palestinians. Moreover, the successive wars between Israel and Arab countries indirectly involved the various Lebanese groups, which alternately supported or fought against Israel.

From 1976 to 2005, Lebanon was occupied by the Syrian army who only withdrew following an impressive demonstration of 1 million people who demanded the withdrawal of these troops. The withdrawal became effective on March 14, 2005.

Political and religious organizations

In Lebanon there are  various political movements that generally have religious connotations.

The Amal Movement (abbreviation for Afwaj al-Mouqawma Al-Lubnaniyya) or Movement of Hope, is a Shiite political party founded in the early 1970s, from the Movement of the Disinherited, vindicating the rights of all religious groups Lebanon to be respected and in particular denouncing that the Shiite communities were the poorest in the country.

Hezbollah (Party of Allah) is a Lebanese Shiite militant Islamic group with a paramilitary wing : the Jihad Council. It emerged from the Amal Movement but with an Islamic fundamentalist approach. It has political support from Iran and Syria and developed an important military force, which is said to be more powerful than the Lebanese army itself. It has been described as a state within the state. It has parliamentary seats, a radio and television station, social services and even deployment beyond the country's borders. In the 2006 war Hezbollah fought Israel.

The Lebanese Phalangist or Kataeb party is the main Christian movement in the country. As Hezbollah it has its own militia that has been involved in most of the internal conflicts since 1936.

Meanwhile Sunnis are generally integrated into the institutional pollitical life of the country. An example of this is Jamaa Islamiya which left aside the claims of building an Islamic state in the country and participated in parliamentary activity. Another group with similar trends is Jam'iyat al-Mashari 'al-Khayriya, also known as Al Ahbash.

Other Sunni organizations seeking to create an Islamic state but without the use of violence, such as Tabligh wa Dawa, also known as Tablighi Jamaat.

All Shiite groups, Christians and Sunni organizations that advocate violence are not faced with the radical group Al Qaeda and ISIS and many of them have suffered several attacks that have cost the lives of several leaders of these groups.

Refugees                                                                                      Palestinian refugee camp

Some 450,000 Palestinian refugees are registered in the United Nations World Refugee Agency (UNRWA) in Lebanon of which 53% live in 12 refugee camps. Because they are not citizens of another country the Palestinians in Lebanon do not have the same rights as foreigners living and working in Lebanon. Of all Palestinian refugees in the Middle East, Lebanese refugees are the ones that fare worst. Recently, due to the war in Syria, many Palestinian refugees who lived in Syria moved to Lebanon in search of security by adding their economic and demographic load to the country

Since the war began in Syria in 2011 refugees from that country have arrived to settle in Lebanon. There are an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon of which 1,050,000 are registered with UNRWA. 53% of them are children ..The Lebanese government has not established refugee camps but rather preferred to have them distributed nationwide.  Many of those (18%) live in makeshift camps in border provinces. Currently only 29% have residence permits. Most Syrian refugees (89%) live below the poverty line.   
                                                           Syrian refugee camp                                         

Because of the war in Syria and the crisis of refugees Lebanon has faced humanitarian crisis, economic instability and increased sectarian violence. In general, Lebanon has maintained an open-door policy. However, because the influx of refugees has increased exponentially since August 2013, economic and social impact has been very large. Reduced economic growth, rising poverty and unemployment, strained public services, increased social fragmentation and political tensions. There has also been a resurgence of sectarian violence with numerous reports of bombings, assassinations and isolated battles between the army and militias.

The future

The immediate future and stability of Lebanon rely heavily on the evolution of the Syrian conflict, the will of the international community to provide adequate humanitarian assistance, and refraining sectarian tensions. In the long term, the problems of Lebanon are the problems of the region. They have been getting worse in most Middle Eastern countries, and will not be easy for a multi-religious small country, historically conflictual, inserted in an area of ​​great geopolitical instability, to stay apart from the influences of its neighbors and powers interested in controlling this strategically situated Republic.