History UsefulNotes / Lebanon

One of the few nations in which the people who live outside the country far outnumber those who live inside it. The total population of Lebanon is (as of 2017) slightly more than 4 million. The diaspora? ''[[HolyShitQuotient 14 million]]''. And this is all made very, very, recently, so you can bet that the country's population would be much higher if there were no wars.

One of the few nations in which the people who live outside the country far outnumber those who live inside it. The total population of Lebanon is (as of 2017) slightly more than 6 million. The diaspora? ''[[HolyShitQuotient 14 million]]''. And this is all made very, very, recently, so you can bet that the country's population would be much higher if there were no wars.

Other than the above, Lebanon also hosts an unusually diverse array of ethnic and religious minorities for such a small country, most of which are displayed in the 18 recognized confessionals (see above). The town of Bourj Hammound a few kilometers from the capital is heavily Armenian. Turks settled during colonial times and continue to live there today. Refugees from other Arab countries set up residences whenever their countries flare up in chaos, including Palestinians (from 1948), Iraqis (from 2003), and Syrians (from 2011). The last one has been a very contentious issue among civilians, the military, and politicians alike; with 2.2 million people as of 2015, they have added a whopping 35% into the population within the span of four years. Other than putting more pressure into the already exhausted resources, non-Sunnis are especially worried that their arrivals would jolt the fragile confessional balance and bring them crashing down, like it did when the second wave of Palestinians arrived forty years ago.

Lebanon ('''Arabic:''' لبنان‎ Libnān or Lubnān), officially known as the Lebanese Republic ('''Arabic:''' الجمهورية اللبنانية‎ Al-Jumhūrīyah Al-Libnānīyah) is a Western Asian country and one of the world's only two multiconfessional countries, with 17 official religions made up of various sects of the three monotheist faiths. However, it's unclear how many people follow what religion in the country; a full census has not been conducted since 1932. This is because the Lebanese Constitution divvies up power along religious lines, and boy did it is very sectarian. Particularly, the three highest posts in the country are reserved for each members of the religious: a Maronite Catholic President, a Sunni Muslim Prime Minister, and a Shia Muslim Speaker of Parliament. ''No exceptions''.

One of the few nations in which the people who live outside the country far outweighs those who live inside it. The total population of Lebanon is (as of 2006) slightly more than 4 million. The diaspora? ''[[HolyShitQuotient 14 million]]''. And this is all made very, very, recently, so you can bet that the country's population would be much higher had the wars not happened.

Was originally a Christian country, and the only one in the Arab world. Because of all the commotion in the late 20th century, a great deal of the Christians, who are historically wealthier than their Muslim neighbors, emigrated and settled in various countries, particularly Brazil, creating the aforementioned humongous diaspora. Many have done very ''well'' for themselves indeed (for instance, Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom magnate who trades places with Bill Gates for the title "richest man in the world", is of Lebanese descent). This has some benefits--whenever bad things go on in Lebanon, the diaspora sends back aid and often invests in rebuilding schemes[[note]]Though if the violence hasn't died down yet, nobody bothers patching things up, so wait for a few years after each one apparently ends...[[/note]]. That's not to say that the Christians disappear altogether, though; estimates count that 40% the population still identify as Christians, and they mostly settle on the Mount Lebanon/Anti Lebanon highlands, together with the Druze[[note]]A religious community descended from Shia Islam[[/note]] while the Muslims live on the coast, with the exception of costal Jouneih which is mostly Christian.

It should be noted however, that the Shia and Sunni populations are evenly split and far more sectarian (this is Lebanon after all) than the splits between Christian sects. This division may as well give Christians a plurality anyway.

A population of jews lived in Lebanon for a quite a while, but most have obviously moved. It is still estimated a few dozen live in the country under a low profile.

!! History

You think it's over yet? Nope. While Syria moved back to the other side of the border, it was determined to keep its influence in-country. It had backed the Shia militia/political party Hezbullah in the 1980s, and continued to do so after the civil war was over. Hezbullah decided that now that its Syrian protectors were gone, it would focus its attention on making Israel miserable (ItMakesSenseInContext, which I haven't the time to give you). As a result, in July-August 2006 after Hezbullah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers and returned to rocketing Israel from Lebanon. In turn, Israel returned bombing the crap out of Lebanon in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah, but did not go beyond that because of internal politics and the hope that it would work enough. All of this contributed to Beirut getting torn up *again* just after the Lebanese had finished rebuilding it. It was never quite as intense as the civil war (a veritable bloodbath), but it was enough to give people nightmares until it more or less died down in 2009, though the country still remained divided. Hezbollah remains largely dominant in the country to the point where it threatens the independent Lebanese government, with supporting and opposing militias and paramilitaries all taking chunks of the country and threatening balkanization.

Lebanon ('''Arabic:''' لبنان‎ Libnān or Lubnān), officially known as the Lebanese Republic ('''Arabic:''' الجمهورية اللبنانية‎ Al-Jumhūrīyah Al-Libnānīyah) is one of the world's only two multiconfessional countries, with 17 official religions made up of various sects of the three monotheist faiths. However, it's unclear how many people follow what religion in the country; a full census has not been conducted since 1932. This is because the Lebanese Constitution divvies up power along religious lines, and boy did it is very sectarian. Particularly, the three highest posts in the country are reserved for each members of the religious: a Maronite Catholic President, a Sunni Muslim Prime Minister, and a Shia Muslim Speaker of Parliament. ''No exceptions''.

Outside the camps, however, things seemed to run smoothly. A political crisis in 1958 (pitting mostly Christian pro-Westerners against mostly-Muslim pro-Syrians for reasons related to [[UsefulNotes/ArabIsraeliConflict the Suez War]] two years earlier) that threatened to turn into a civil war was defused when UsefulNotes/DwightEisenhower, on the request of the Lebanese president, sent the U.S. [[YanksWithTanks Army]] and [[SemperFi Marines]] to keep anything from happening. For a time, Lebanon was reasonably stable and prosperous; UsefulNotes/{{Beirut}} continued to live up to its reputation as the "Paris of the Middle East."

TheArabSpring sucked Lebanon into its vortex just a few years later; as you might expect for a country that has faced considerable occupation from a larger, authoritarian neighbor. Like before, Lebanon would again face major shock waves because of events and decisions in Syria. This time, however, the event in question was not the expansion of Syrian power but the explosion of the Syrian Civil War against the Assad government. As a result, both Pro and Anti Syrian/Baathist/Assad factions have gone across the border in large numbers to fight in what is almost a larger proxy war, even as internally the country suffers from a sort of smaller "proxy cold war", with both sides maneuvering for advantage.

Was originally a Christian country, and the only one in the Arab world. Because of all the commotion in the late 20th century, a great deal of the Christians, who are historically wealthier than their Muslim neighbors, emigrated and settled in various countries, particularly Brazil, creating the aforementioned humongous diaspora. Many have done very ''well'' for themselves indeed (for instance, Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom magnate who trades places with Bill Gates for the title "richest man in the world", is of Lebanese descent). This has some benefits--whenever bad things go on in Lebanon, the diaspora sends back aid and often invests in rebuilding schemes[[note]]Though if the violence hasn't died down yet, nobody bothers patching things up, so wait for a few years after each one apparently ends...[[/note]]. That's not to say that the Christians disappear altogether, though; estimates count that 40% the population still identify as Christians, and they mostly settle on the Mount Lebanon/Anti Lebanon highlands, together with the Druze[[note]]A religious community descended from Shia Islam[[/note]] while the Muslims live on the coast.

Lebanon was under a French Mandate from the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne until 1943, leaving a deep impression in language and culture - for the Lebanese mostly, but also for the French. If you ever see French people greet each other with kisses on the cheeks, that's a Lebanese tradition. On the other hand, even today, Lebanese dialects of Arabic contain strong traces of French, and French is officially a national language. Lebanese cooking is famous throughout the Middle East and beyond: hummus, falafel, tabbouleh, and pastries unrivaled in taste (although an Egyptian would dispute that for the falafel and some of the pastries and Greeks would make a similar point about the baklava; Food is SeriousBusiness). An Egyptian restaurant opening abroad might call itself 'Lebanese' to get more customers.

Lebanon ('''Arabic:''' لبنان‎ Libnān or Lubnān), officially known as the Lebanese Republic ('''Arabic:''' الجمهورية اللبنانية‎ Al-Jumhūrīyah Al-Libnānīyah) is one of the world's only two multiconfessional countries, with 17 official religions made up of various sects of the three monotheist faiths. However, it's unclear how many people follow what religion in the country; a full census has not been conducted since 1932. This is because the Lebanese Constitution divvies up power along religious lines, and the Christians--who were a slim majority in 1932--were outpaced by the Muslims in the decades that followed.

Thanks to the bloody civil war, the Lebanese left their home country in larger numbers than might be expected from a country Lebanon's size. Christians in particular packed up and went, being generally a bit richer than the Muslims (particularly the Shia). There are now three to five times as many Lebanese living outside Lebanon as within it, and many have done ''very'' well for themselves indeed (for instance, Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom magnate who trades places with BillGates for the title "richest man in the world", is of Lebanese descent). This has some benefits--whenever bad things go on in Lebanon, the Diaspora sends back aid and often invests in rebuilding schemes. Even when the violence gets nasty, you often can't tell a few years after it dies down. Of course, if it hasn't died down yet, nobody bothers patching things up...

''ComicBook/MalaakAngelOfPeace'' is the one Lebanese comic series to date, set in a warring Lebanon that criss-crosses with a mythological one.

A force of American, British, French, and Italian peacekeepers were deployed to the country in the early 1980s to try and bring a stop to the civil war or at least to restrain the warring sides. However, they soon got sucked into the frenzied fighting and soon became a target of Syrian and Iranian intelligence, as well as their Islamist paramilitary proxies. As a result, one enterprising group picked two volunteer with the know how to drive, loaded trucks up with high explosives, and on October 23rd of 1983 [[SuicideAttack sent it careening into the Peacekeeping compounds.]] By far the more infamous and deadly attack was that on the USMC barracks, which killed 241 American servicemen and a Lebanese civilian and was basically the TropeCodifier for modern suicide bombing; less well known is that there was another attack on the French Para barracks not far, which killed an additional 58 Frenchmen and a Lebanese janitor's wife and four children. All in all, the death total wracked up to 299 peacekeepers, 305 total including civilians, and the two perpetrators. The event was one of the most devastating attacks any of the countries had suffered, and led to the decision to remove the Peacekeepers and leave Lebanon to the paramilitaries.

However, by 1975, the Palestinians had organized themselves into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which more or less became a "state within a state" in Lebanon. The Palestinians used southern Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel, which screwed up everything most massively. Various groups within Lebanon took different positions on the issue (Christians generally frowning on it, Sunnis generally supportive, Shias generally too poor to be noticed). In retaliation for the PLO bombing the crap out of them from Lebanon, Israel started bombing the crap out of the Palestinians on Lebanese soil, driving the subject came much closer to home and pushing things to get much nastier. By April of 1975, it had turned into an all-out civil war. Pro-PLO militias controlled the south of the country; Anti-PLO controlled the center and west; and to top it off, the north and east were invaded by UsefulNotes/{{Syria}}. Beirut itself was divided in two: the PLO and its allied militias controlled West Beirut, their enemies controlled East Beirut, and various people whose religious background did not match the militias' generally fled to the other side before they were shot. Oh, and did we mention that Syria and Israel decided to invade?

A force of American, British, French, and Italian peacekeepers were deployed to the country in the early 1980s to try and bring a stop to the civil war or at least to restrain the warring sides. However, they soon got sucked into the frenzied fighting and soon became a target of Syrian and Iranian intelligence, as well as their Islamist paramilitary proxies. As a result, one enterprising group picked two volunteer with the know how to drive, loaded trucks up with high explosives, and on October 23rd of 1983 [[SuicideAttack sent it careening into the Peacekeeping compounds.]] By far the more infamous and deadly attack was that on the USMC barracks, which killed 241 American servicemen and a Lebanese civilian and was basically the TropeCodifier for modern suicide bombing; less well known is that there was another attack on the French Para barracks not far, which killed an additional 58 Frenchmen and [[TearJerker a Lebanese janitor's wife and four children.]] All in all, the death total wracked up to 299 peacekeepers, 305 total including civilians, and the two perpetrators. The event was one of the most devastating attacks any of the countries had suffered, and led to the decision to remove the Peacekeepers and leave Lebanon to the paramilitaries.

MalaakAngelOfPeace is the one Lebanese comic series to date, set in a warring Lebanon that criss-crosses with a mythological one.

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that ended the civil war. The early 2000s saw Israel leaving the southern part of the country without any conditions. During these years, much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, the Syrian elephant in the room stayed on for years in an effort to thoroughly subordinate Lebanon to its control, though generally preferring to act through [[TheQuisling quislings]], [[LesColalborators sympathetic locals]], and [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch well-timed and deniable "accidents"]] than directly. One of these was the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which turned out to be a massive miscalculation as it spurred major protests that forced Syria to withdrawal.

Lebanon was under a French Mandate from the end of WorldWarOne until 1943, leaving a deep impression in language and culture - for the Lebanese mostly, but also for the French. If you ever see French people greet each other with kisses on the cheeks, that's a Lebanese tradition. On the other hand, even today, Lebanese dialects of Arabic contain strong traces of French, and French is officially a national language. Lebanese cooking is famous throughout the Middle East and beyond: hummus, falafel, tabbouleh, and pastries unrivaled in taste (although an Egyptian would dispute that for the falafel and some of the pastries and Greeks would make a similar point about the baklava; Food is SeriousBusiness). An Egyptian restaurant opening abroad might call itself 'Lebanese' to get more customers.

Lebanon's history since independence in TheForties has been checkered at best. A major reason for this is that its independence is not really accepted by Damascus, who holds that Lebanon is more or less a(n autonomous at best) part of Syria proper. This even goes as far as to show in the maps produced, showing the border between the two countries as being internal, like you would get between American states. Being a fairly small and weak country that had sizable ties with Israel and the West, it didn't contribute very much to the ArabIsraeliConflict, even in the initial invasion of Israel in 1948. However, lots of Palestinians fled to Lebanon, whose government refused to allow the Palestinians to integrate. They've been living in festering camps in the countryside ever since (albeit "camps" with a whole lot of pretty permanent-looking structures), a major problem that would come back to haunt the country in its times of trouble. Particularly since the camps soon became instruments of PLO power, serving and political *and military* strongholds that they would later use to pressure and eventually intervene in Internal Lebanese politics.

Outside the camps, however, things seemed to run smoothly. A political crisis in 1958 (pitting mostly Christian pro-Westerners against mostly-Muslim pro-Syrians for reasons related to [[ArabIsraeliConflict the Suez War]] two years earlier) that threatened to turn into a civil war was defused when DwightEisenhower, on the request of the Lebanese president, sent the U.S. [[YanksWithTanks Army]] and [[SemperFi Marines]] to keep anything from happening. For a time, Lebanon was reasonably stable and prosperous; UsefulNotes/{{Beirut}} continued to live up to its reputation as the "Paris of the Middle East."

Lebanon's history since independence in TheForties has been checkered at best. A major reason for this is that its' independence is not really accepted by Damascus, who holds that Lebanon is more or less a(n autonomous at best) part of Syria proper. This even goes as far as to show in the maps produced, showing the border between the two countries as being internal, like you would get between American states. Being a fairly small and weak country that had sizable ties with Israel and the West, it didn't contribute very much to the ArabIsraeliConflict, even in the initial invasion of Israel in 1948. However, lots of Palestinians fled to Lebanon, whose government refused to allow the Palestinians to integrate. They've been living in festering camps in the countryside ever since (albeit "camps" with a whole lot of pretty permanent-looking structures), a major problem that would come back to haunt the country in its times of trouble. Particularly since the camps soon became instruments of PLO power, serving and political *and military* strongholds that they would later use to pressure and eventually intervene in Internal Lebanese politics.

However, by 1975, the Palestinians had organized themselves into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which more or less became a "state within a state" in Lebanon. The Palestinians used southern Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel, which screwed up everything most massively. Various groups within Lebanon took different positions on the issue (Christians generally frowning on it, Sunnis generally supportive, Shias generally too poor to be noticed). In retaliation for the PLO bombing the crap out of them from Lebanon, Israel started bombing the crap out of the Palestinians on Lebanese soil, driving the subject came much closer to home and pushing things to get much nastier. By April of 1975, it had turned into an all-out civil war. Pro-PLO militias controlled the south of the country; Anti-PLO controlled the center and west; and to top it off, the north and east were invaded by UsefulNotes/{{Syria}}. Beirut itself was divided in two: the PLO and its' allied militias controlled West Beirut, their enemies controlled East Beirut, and various people whose religious background did not match the militias' generally fled to the other side before they were shot. Oh, and did we mention that Syria and Israel decided to invade?

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that ended the civil war. The early 2000s saw Israel leaving the southern part of the country without any conditions. During these years, much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, the Syrian elephant in the room stayed on for years in an effort to thoroughly subordinate Lebanon to its' control, though generally preferring to act through [[TheQuisling quislings]], [[LesColalborators sympathetic locals]], and [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch well-timed and deniable "accidents"]] than directly. One of these was the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which turned out to be a massive miscalculation as it spurred major protests that forced Syria to withdrawal.

You think it's over yet? Nope. While Syria moved back to the other side of the border, it was determined to keep its' influence in-country. It had backed the Shia militia/political party Hezbullah in the 1980s, and continued to do so after the civil war was over. Hezbullah decided that now that its Syrian protectors were gone, it would focus its attention on making Israel miserable (ItMakesSenseInContext, which I haven't the time to give you). As a result, in July-August 2006 after Hezbullah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers and returned to rocketing Israel from Lebanon. In turn, Israel returned bombing the crap out of Lebanon in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah, but did not go beyond that because of internal politics and the hope that it would work enough. All of this contributed to Beirut getting torn up *again* just after the Lebanese had finished rebuilding it. It was never quite as intense as the civil war (a veritable bloodbath), but it was enough to give people nightmares until it more or less died down in 2009, though the country still remained divided. Hezbollah remains largely dominant in the country to the point where it threatens the independent Lebanese government, with supporting and opposing militias and paramilitaries all taking chunks of the country and threatening balkanization.

TheArabSpring sucked Lebanon into its' vortex just a few years later; as you might expect for a country that has faced considerable occupation from a larger, authoritarian neighbor. Like before, Lebanon would again face major shock waves because of events and decisions in Syria. This time, however, the event in question was not the expansion of Syrian power but the explosion of the Syrian Civil War against the Assad government. As a result, both Pro and Anti Syrian/Baathist/Assad factions have gone across the border in large numbers to fight in what is almost a larger proxy war, even as internally the country suffers from a sort of smaller "proxy cold war", with both sides maneuvering for advantage.

Outside the camps, however, things seemed to run smoothly. A political crisis in 1958 (pitting mostly Christian pro-Westerners against mostly-Muslim pro-Syrians for reasons related to [[ArabIsraeliConflict the Suez War]] two years earlier) that threatened to turn into a civil war was defused when DwightEisenhower, on the request of the Lebanese president, sent the US [[YanksWithTanks Army]] and [[SemperFi Marines]] to keep anything from happening. For a time, Lebanon was reasonably stable and prosperous; UsefulNotes/{{Beirut}} continued to live up to its reputation as the "Paris of the Middle East."

A force of American, British, French, and Italian peacekeepers were deployed to the country in the early 1980's to try and bring a stop to the civil war or at least to restrain the warring sides. However, they soon got sucked into the frenzied fighting and soon became a target of Syrian and Iranian intelligence, as well as their Islamist paramilitary proxies. As a result, one enterprising group picked two volunteer with the know how to drive, loaded trucks up with high explosives, and on October 23rd of 1983 [[SuicideAttack sent it careening into the Peacekeeping compounds.]] By far the more infamous and deadly attack was that on the USMC barracks, which killed 241 American servicemen and a Lebanese civilian and was basically the TropeCodifier for modern suicide bombing; less well known is that there was another attack on the French Para barracks not far, which killed an additional 58 Frenchmen and [[TearJerker a Lebanese janitor's wife and four children.]] All in all, the death total wracked up to 299 peacekeepers, 305 total including civilians, and the two perpetrators. The event was one of the most devastating attacks any of the countries had suffered, and led to the decision to remove the Peacekeepers and leave Lebanon to the paramilitaries.

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that ended the civil war. The early 2000's saw Israel leaving the southern part of the country without any conditions. During these years, much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, the Syrian elephant in the room stayed on for years in an effort to thoroughly subordinate Lebanon to its' control, though generally preferring to act through [[TheQuisling quislings]], [[LesColalborators sympathetic locals]], and [[TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch well-timed and deniable "accidents"]] than directly. One of these was the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which turned out to be a massive miscalculation as it spurred major protests that forced Syria to withdrawal.

Lebanon's history since independence in TheForties has been checkered at best. Being a fairly small and weak country, it didn't contribute very much to the ArabIsraeliConflict, even in the initial invasion of Israel in 1948. However, lots of Palestinians fled to Lebanon, whose government refused to allow the Palestinians to integrate. They've been living in festering camps in the countryside ever since (albeit "camps" with a whole lot of pretty permanent-looking structures), a major problem that would come back to haunt the country in its times of trouble.

Outside the camps, however, things seemed to run smoothly. A political crisis in 1958 (pitting Muslims against Christians for reasons related to [[ArabIsraeliConflict the Suez War]] two years earlier) that threatened to turn into a civil war was defused when DwightEisenhower, on the request of the Lebanese president, sent the US [[YanksWithTanks Army]] and [[SemperFi Marines]] to keep anything from happening. For a time, Lebanon was reasonably stable and prosperous; UsefulNotes/{{Beirut}} continued to live up to its reputation as the "Paris of the Middle East."

However, by 1975, the Palestinians had organized themselves into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which more or less became a "state within a state" in Lebanon. The Palestinians used southern Lebanon as a base for attacks on Israel, which screwed up everything most massively. Various groups within Lebanon took different positions on the issue (Christians generally frowning on it, Sunnis generally supportive, Shias generally too poor to be noticed). As Israel started bombing the crap out of the Palestinians, the subject came much closer to home, and things got nastier. By April of 1975, it had turned into an all-out civil war. Palestinian and other Muslim militias controlled the south of the country; Christians controlled the center and west; and to top it off, the north and east were invaded by UsefulNotes/{{Syria}}. Beirut itself was divided in two: Muslim militias controlled West Beirut, Christian militias controlled East Beirut, and various people whose religious background did not match the militias' generally fled to the other side before they were shot. Oh, and did we mention that Israel decided to invade in the early 80s?

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that ended the civil war. The early 2000's saw Israel leaving the southern part of the country without any conditions. During these years, much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, Syrian troops continued to occupy the country until 2005, until protests resulting from the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri led to their withdrawal.

You think it's over yet? Nope. Syria had backed the Shia militia/political party Hezbullah in the 1980s, and continued to do so after the civil war was over. Hezbullah decided that now that its Syrian protectors were gone, it would focus its attention on making Israel miserable (ItMakesSenseInContext, which I haven't the time to give you). As a result, in July-August 2006 after Hezbullah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers to make an indirect prisoners exchange because Israel was holding about 180 dead Lebanese men since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and 40 alive Lebanese men in their prison, Israel started bombing the crap out of Lebanon, but was not able to invade the country this time thanks to Hezbullah for protecting the Lebanese border from Israel. None of this was very fair, as the Israelis managed to destroy part of Beirut ''yet again'' (they'd done it as part of their intervention in the civil war) just after the Lebanese had rebuilt it. As getting the crap bombed out of you tends to do, part of the Lebanese people were not at all pleased by this war because of the Americans . It was never quite as intense as the civil war (a veritable bloodbath), but it was enough to give people nightmares until it more or less died down in 2009. And after the 2006 war Hezbullah rebuild Beirut (to say nothing of the other cities) ''again''. It seems like the beautiful cedar tree on the flag is becoming more and more an item of nostalgia.

Outside the camps, however, things seemed to run smoothly. A political crisis in 1958 (pitting Muslims against Christians for reasons related to [[ArabIsraeliConflict the Suez War]] two years earlier) that threatened to turn into a civil war was defused when DwightEisenhower, on the request of the Lebanese president, sent the US [[YanksWithTanks Army]] and [[SemperFi Marines]] to keep anything from happening. For a time, Lebanon was reasonably stable and prosperous; Beirut continued to live up to its reputation as the "Paris of the Middle East."

{{Beirut}} used to be known as the Paris of the Middle East, until the Civil War. If it's set in pre-war Lebanon, expect a BellyDancer to shimmy her way into the plot somehow.

Thanks to the bloody civil war, the Lebanese left their home country in larger numbers than might be expected from a country Lebanon's size. Christians in particular packed up and went, being generally a bit richer than the Muslims (particularly the Shia). There are now three to five times as many Lebanese living outside Lebanon as within it, and many have done ''very'' well for themselves indeed (for instance, Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom magnate who trades places with BillGates for the title "richest man in the world", is of Lebanese descent). This has some benefits--whenever bad things go on in Lebanon, the Diaspora sends back aid and often invests in rebuilding schemes. Even when the violence gets nasty, you often can't tell a few years after it dies down.

Thanks to the bloody civil war, the Lebanese left their home country in larger numbers than might be expected from a country Lebanon's size. Christians in particular packed up and went, being generally a bit richer than the Muslims (particularly the Shia). There are now three to five times as many Lebanese living outside Lebanon as within it, and many have done ''very'' well for themselves indeed (for instance, Carlos Slim, a Mexican telecom magnate who trades places with BillGates for the title "richest man in the world", is of Lebanese descent). This has some benefits--whenever bad things go on in Lebanon, the Diaspora sends back aid and often invests in rebuilding schemes.

Thanks to the bloody civil war, the Lebanese left their home country in larger numbers than might be expected from a country Lebanon's size. Christians in particular packed up and went, being generally a bit richer than the Muslims (particularly the Shia). There are now three to five times as many Lebanese living outside Lebanon as within it.

Lebanon is one of the world's only two multiconfessional countries, with 17 official religions made up of various sects of the three monotheist faiths. However, it's unclear how many people follow what religion in the country; a full census has not been conducted since 1932. This is because the Lebanese Constitution divvies up power along religious lines, and the Christians--who were a slim majority in 1932--were outpaced by the Muslims in the decades that followed.

You think it's over yet? Nope. Syria had backed the Shia militia/political party Hizbullah in the 1980s, and continued to do so after the civil war was over. Hizbullah decided that now that its Syrian protectors were gone, it would focus its attention on making Israel miserable (ItMakesSenseInContext, which I haven't the time to give you). As a result, in July-August 2006 after Hizbullah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers to make an indirect prisoners exchange because Israel was holding about 180 dead Lebanese men since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon and 40 alive Lebanese men in their prison, Israel started bombing the crap out of Lebanon, but was not able to invade the country this time thanks to Hizbullah for protecting the Lebanese border from Israel. None of this was very fair, as the Israelis managed to destroy part of Beirut ''yet again'' (they'd done it as part of their intervention in the civil war) just after the Lebanese had rebuilt it. As getting the crap bombed out of you tends to do, part of the Lebanese people were not at all pleased by this war because of the Americans . It was never quite as intense as the civil war (a veritable bloodbath), but it was enough to give people nightmares until it more or less died down in 2009. And after the 2006 war Hizbullah rebuild Beirut (to say nothing of the other cities) ''again''. It seems like the beautiful cedar tree on the flag is becoming more and more an item of nostalgia.

Lebanon's history since independence in TheForties has been checkered at best. Being a fairly small and weak country, it did contribute very much to the ArabIsraeliConflict, even in the initial invasion of Israel in 1948. However, lots of Palestinians fled to Lebanon, whose government refused to allow the Palestinians to integrate. They've been living in festering camps in the countryside ever since (albeit "camps" with a whole lot of pretty permanent-looking structures), a major problem that would come back to haunt the country in its times of trouble.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lebanon_map_4824.gif

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that ended the civil war. The early 2000's saw Israel leaving the country southern part of the country without any condition. During these years, much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, Syrian troops continued to occupy the country until 2005, until protests resulting from the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri led to their withdrawal.

The war continued until 1990, when an uneasy peace deal was reached in The Nineties that end the civil war in lebanon and early 2000 which saw the run away of isreal from part ot the south of lebanon without any condition from isreal the years the Nineties and 2000 were the best years to Lebanon, and much of the country was rebuilt (although bullet holes remained an expected part of any building). However, Syrian troops continued to occupy the country until 2005, until protests resulting from the assassination of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri led to their withdrawal.

You think it's over yet? Nope. Syria had backed the Shia militia/political party Hizballah in the 1980s, and continued to do so after the civil war was over. Hizballah decided that now that its Syrian protectors were gone, it would focus its attention on making Israel miserable (ItMakesSenseInContext, which I haven't the time to give you). As a result, in July-August 2006 after Hizbullah kidnapped 2 Israeli soldiers to make an indirect prisoners exchange because Israel was holding about 180 dead lebanese men since the 1982 invasion of lebanon and 40 alive lebanese men in their prison, Israel started bombing the crap out of Lebanon, but was not able to invade the country this time thanks to Hizbullah for protecting the Lebanese border from isreal. None of this was very fair, as the Israelis managed to destroy part of Beirut ''yet again'' (they'd done it as part of their intervention in the civil war) just after the Lebanese had rebuilt it. As getting the crap bombed out of you tends to do, part of the Lebanese people were not at all pleased by this war because of the Americans . It was never quite as intense as the civil war (a veritable bloodbath), but it was enough to give people nightmares until it more or less died down in 2009. And after the 2006 war Hizbullah rebuild Beirut (to say nothing of the other cities) ''again''. It seems like the beautiful cedar tree on the flag is becoming more and more an item of nostalgia.

{{Beirut}} used to be known as the Paris of the Middle East, until the Civil War. If it's set in Lebanon pre that war, expect a BellyDancer to shimmy her way into the plot somehow.