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Timeline
1920 1 September After the League of Nations grants the mandate for Lebanon and Syria to France, the State of Greater Lebanon is
proclaimed. It includes the former autonomous province of Mount Lebanon, plus the provinces of north Lebanon, south Lebanon and the Biqa, historically part of Syria.
1926 23 May The Lebanese Representative Council approves a Constitution and the Lebanese Republic is
declared.
1940 Lebanon comes under the control of the Vichy French government.
1943 March Unwritten "national pact" established system by which government power shared on confessional basis.
The foundations of the state are set out in an unwritten National Covenant which states that Lebanon is an independent
republic with ties to the West, but which cooperates with Arabic states while remaining neutral. The 1932 census which had shown that Christians were 54% of the population is used as the basis for the distribution of seats in the Chamber of Deputies
[later to be called the National Assembly] on a ratio of 6 to 5 [later extended to other public
offices]. The President is to be a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies a
Shi'a Muslim.
Independence
1943 They allowed elections to take place. Under the new
President, the legislature adopted changes in the constitution that did away with French influence. The French objected. On Nov. 11, 1943, the French arrested almost the entire Lebanese government, leading to war. The British intervened, and the French restored the government and transferred power to it.
1945 After more insurrection and as World War II reached its climax, the British and French began withdrawing from Lebanon.
1946 The withdrawal was complete, and Lebanon became officially independent.
1957 Considerable unrest, mainly among Muslims who advocated Lebanon's closer alignment with Syria and Egypt.
President Camille Chamoun accepts the Eisenhower
Doctrine, announced in January, which offers US economic and military aid to Middle Eastern countries to counteract Soviet influence in the region.
1958 14 July Faced with increasing opposition which develops into a civil war, President
Chamoun asks the United States to send troops to preserve Lebanon's independence.
1958 15 July The United States, mindful of Iraq's overthrow of its monarchy, sends marines to re-establish the government's authority.
Arab-Israeli War
1967 June Lebanon plays no active role in the Arab-Israeli war but is to be affected by its aftermath when Palestinians use Lebanon as a base for activities against Israel.
1968 28 December In retaliation for an attack by two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
[PFLP] on an Israeli plane in Athens, Israel raids Beirut airport, destroying 13 civilian planes.
1969 November Clashes between Lebanese security forces and Palestinian guerrillas.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Emile Bustani, and Palestine Liberation Organization
[PLO] Chairman Yasir Arafat sign an agreement in Cairo which aims to control Palestinian guerrilla activities in Lebanon.
1971 July Palestinian fighters expelled from Jordan enter Lebanon. Subsequently, the conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinians based in Lebanon intensified, while Christian groups began their own armed campaign to control the Palestinian guerrillas.
1973 10 April Israeli commandos raid Beirut and kill three Palestinian leaders, close associates of Arafat. The Lebanese government resigns the next day.
1974 July Clashes between Palestinian forces and Christian militias.
Civil War Begins
1975 13 April Further conflict between Christians and Palestinians.
Phalangist gunmen ambush a bus in the Ayn-al-Rummanah district of Beirut, killing 27 of its mainly Palestinian passengers. The Phalangists claim that guerrillas had previously attacked a church in the same district.
1976 June Syrian troops enter Lebanon to restore peace but also to curb the Palestinians.
1976 October Following Arab summit meetings in Riyad and Cairo, a cease-fire is arranged and a predominantly Syrian Arab Deterrent Force
[ADF] is established to maintain it.
Israel Controls South
1978 14/15 March In reprisal for a Palestinian attack into its territory, Israel launches a major invasion of Lebanon, occupying land as far north as the Litani River.
1978 19 March The United Nations Security Council
[UNSC] passes Resolution 425, which calls on Israel to withdraw from all Lebanese territory and establishes the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
[UNIFIL] to confirm the Israeli withdrawal, restore peace and help the Lebanese government re-establish its authority in the area.
1978 By 13 June Israel hands over territory in southern Lebanon not to UNIFIL but to its proxy mainly Christian Lebanese militia under Maj Sa'd Haddad.
Israel Attacks
1982 6 June Following the attempted assassination of Shlomo Argov, Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Israel launches a full-scale invasion of Lebanon, "Operation Peace for Galilee".
1982 August The National Assembly elected
Bashir Gemayel to succeed President Sarkis.
1982 14 September President-elect, Bashir
Gemayel, is assassinated.
The following day, Israeli forces occupy West Beirut, and from 16 to 18 September, the Phalangist militia kill Palestinians in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut.
1982 16 September In retaliation for assassination of Gemayel, Christian forces massacred many inhabitants of the Palestinian
refugee camps at Sabra and Shatila.
1982 21 September Bashir's elder brother, Amin
Gemayel, is elected President.
1982 24 September The first contingent of a mainly US, French and Italian peacekeeping force, requested by Lebanon, arrives in Beirut.
Buffer Zone Set Up
1983 17 May Israel and Lebanon sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal, ending hostilities and establishing a security region in southern Lebanon.
1983 23 October 241 US marines and
58 French paratroopers are killed in two bomb explosions in Beirut, responsibility
for which is claimed by two militant Shi'a groups.
1985 By 6 June most Israeli troops withdraw but some remain to support the mainly Christian South Lebanon Army
[SLA] led by Maj-Gen Antoine Lahoud which operates in a "security zone" in southern Lebanon.
1985 16 June A TWA plane lands in Beirut after having been hijacked on a flight from Athens to Rome by two alleged members of
Hizballah demanding the release of
Shi'ites in Israeli jails. The crisis is resolved with the help of Syrian mediation.
1986 July Syrian observers took
position in Beirut to monitor a peacekeeping agreement. The agreement
broke down and fighting between Shi'ite and Druze militia in West Beirut
became so intense that Syrian troops mobilized in Feb. 1987, suppressing
militia resistance.
1987 7 January Assassins using a remote-controlled car bomb tried but failed to assassinate former Lebanese President Camille Chamoun. Four other people, however, were killed.
1987 21 May Lebanon abrogates the 1969 Cairo agreement with the PLO as well as officially
canceling the 17 May 1983 agreement with Israel.
1987 1 June After Prime Minister Rashid Karami is killed when a bomb explodes in his helicopter, Salim al-Huss becomes acting prime minister.
Two Governments, One Country
1988 22 September When no candidate is elected to succeed him, outgoing President Amin
Gemayel appoints a six-member interim military government, composed of three Christians and three Muslims, though the latter refuse to serve. Lebanon now has two governments - one mainly Muslim in West Beirut, headed by Al-Huss, the other, Christian, in East Beirut, led by the Maronite Commander-in-Chief of the Army, General Michel
Aoun.
1989 14 March Aoun declares a "war of liberation" against the Syrian presence in Lebanon.
Violent clashes in Beirut between Aoun's Lebanese army and its allies on the one hand, and Syrian troops and their local militias on the other.
1989 May A Tripartite Arab Committee was formed to produce a peace plan.
1989 June Tripartite Arab Committee announced a peace plan which was immediately rejected by General Aoun.
1989 28 July Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd,
Hizballah leader in Jibshiit, is abducted by Israeli forces.
1989 September Tripartite Arab Committee announced a new peace plan, "the charter of national reconciliation", which Aoun reluctantly agreed to. A cease-fire accordingly took place on
23 September.
1989 22 October The National Assembly, meeting in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, endorses a Charter of National Reconciliation, which reduces the authority of the
President by transferring executive power to the cabinet. The National Assembly now has an equal number of Christian and Muslim members instead of the previous six to five ratio.
However, the endorsement of the charter was immediately denounced by General Aoun.
1989 November The National Assembly elected Rene Mu'awwad
as the new President. General Aoun declared the election unconstitutional and declared himself President.
President-elect Rene Mu'awwad is assassinated on 22 November and succeeded by
Elias Hirawi on 24 November. The following day, Salim al-Huss becomes Prime Minister and Gen Emile
Lahoud replaces
Aoun as Commander-in-Chief of the Army on 28 November.
1990 January Violent clashes took place between the Christian communities, who were divided over the Taif agreement. By March more than 800 people had been killed and over 2,500 wounded.
Civil War Ends
1990 13 October The Syrian air force attacks the Presidential Palace at B'abda.
General Aoun and his forces were expelled from East Beirut by Syrian forces and units of the Lebanese army loyal to President
Hirawi.
1990 24 December Umar Karami heads a government of national reconciliation.
Lebanese army began to deploy in Beirut, all militia forces having withdrawn from the city.
1991 South Lebanon Army established in most southern Lebanese towns.
The National Assembly orders the dissolution of all militias by 30 April but
Hizballah is allowed to remain active and the SLA refuses to disband.
1991 22 May A Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination is signed in Damascus by Lebanon and Syria and a Higher Council, co-chaired by their two
Presidents, is established.
1991 1 July The Lebanese army defeats the PLO in Sidon so that it now confronts the Israelis and the SLA in Jazzin, north of the so-called "security zone".
1991 26 August The National Assembly grants an amnesty for all crimes committed during the civil war, 1975-1990.
Aoun receives a Presidential pardon and is allowed to leave for France.
1991 30 October Lebanon participates in the Middle East Peace Conference launched in Madrid.
1992 16 February Shaykh Abbas al-Musawi, Secretary-General of
Hizballah, is killed when Israeli helicopter gun ships attack his motorcade on a road south-east of Sidon
By 17 June all Western hostages held by Shi'a groups have been released.
1992 20 October After elections in August and September
[the first since 1972], Nabih Birri, Secretary-General of the Shi'a Amal organization, becomes speaker of the National Assembly.
1992 22 October Rafik Hariri was invited by President Hrawi to form a government.
Early 1991 The Lebanese government,
backed by Syria, attempted to regain control over the south and disband
all private militias, thereby ending the 16-year civil war. These
conflicts destroyed much of the infrastructure and industry of Lebanon.
1991 31 October Rafik Hariri, becomes prime minister, heading a cabinet of technocrats.
1992 August In the general elections,
most Christians abstained from voting, demanding that Syrian forces first
leave the country. The new legislature consisted of mostly pro-Syrian
members. The largest Christian party was further weakened when in Jan.
1993 it appeared to split into two factions.
1993 25 July Israel attempts to end the threat from
Hizballah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command
[PFLP-GC] in southern Lebanon by launching "Operation Accountability", the heaviest attack since 1982.
1994 21 May Mustafa Dib al-Dirani, head of the Believers' Resistance, a breakaway group from the
Shi'a Amal organization, is abducted by Israeli commandos from his house in eastern Lebanon.
Israel bombs Beirut
1996 11 April The start of "Operation Grapes of Wrath" in which the Israelis bomb
Hizballah bases in southern Lebanon, the southern district of Beirut and the Biqa.
1996 18 April An Israeli attack on a UN base at Qana results in the death of over 100 Lebanese refugees sheltering there.
1996 26 April The United States negotiates a truce and an "understanding" under which
Hizballah and Palestinian guerrillas agree not to attack civilians in northern Israel, and which recognizes Israel's right to
self-defense but also Hizballah's right to resist the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. Lebanon and Syria do not sign the "understanding" but the Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group
[ILMG], with representatives from the United States, France, Israel, Lebanon and Syria, is established to monitor the truce.
1997 President Hirawi stated that 210 Lebanese prisoners were being held in Syria.
The Syrian authorities released 121 Lebanese detainees in March 1998. Most of the detainees were immediately able to go home, but 14 of them faced prosecution by Lebanese courts, mainly for crimes related to "terrorism" and criminal offences.
1998 1 April Israel's inner cabinet votes to accept United Nations Security Council
[UNSC] Resolution 425 of 1978 if Lebanon guarantees the security of Israel's northern border. Both Lebanon and Syria reject this condition.
Lahoud is President
1998 24 November Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Emile
Lahoud, is sworn in as President, succeeding
Elias Hirawi.
1998 4 December Salim al-Huss becomes prime minister heading a cabinet which includes no militia leaders and only two ministers from the previous administration.
June 1999 Just before Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu left office, Israel bombed Southern Lebanon,
its most severe attack on the country since 1996. In May 2000, the new
prime minister, Ehud Barak, withdrew Israeli troops after 22 years of
occupation.
2000 5 March The Israeli cabinet votes for the unilateral
withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon by July 2000.
2000 18 April Israel decides to release thirteen Lebanese prisoners held without trial for over 10 years but the detention of Shaykh Abd-al-Karim Ubayd and Mustafa Dib al-Dirani is extended.
2000 24 May After the collapse of the South Lebanon Army
[SLA] and the rapid advance of Hizballah forces, Israel withdraws its troops from southern Lebanon, more than six weeks before its stated deadline of 7 July.
2000 25 May Lebanon declares 25 May an annual public holiday to be called "Resistance and Liberation Day".
2000 9 June Hafez al-Assad - Syria's
long-serving President who maintained an iron grip on Lebanon - dies.
President Assad's death comes at a critical time in the Middle East peace
process, with Syria this week agreeing to work with the United States
towards a revival of stalled talks with its rival Israel.
President Assad was responsible for sending Syrian troops into Lebanon in
1976.
2000 September Opposition party
candidates allied with former prime minister Rafik Hariri won a
landslide victory in parliamentary elections, in which Lebanon’s severe
recession was a major issue. Hariri became prime minister a month later.
2001 March Lebanon begins pumping water from a tributary of the River Jordan to supply a southern border village despite opposition from Israel.
2001 April Israeli warplanes bomb Syrian radar station in Lebanon, killing at least two Syrian soldiers.
Summer 2001 Syria withdrew 5,000 of
its troops from Beirut and surrounding areas. Around 25,000 still remain.
2002 January Elie Hobeika, a key figure in the massacres of Palestinian refugees in 1982, dies in a blast shortly after disclosing that he held videotapes and documents challenging the Israeli version of the story of the massacres.
2002 September Row with Israel over Lebanon's plan to divert water from a border river. Israel says it cannot tolerate the diversion of the Wazzani, which provides 10% of its drinking water, and threatens the use of military force.
2003 April Prime Minister Hariri resigns to allow the formation of a new cabinet. A day later, MPs vote to keep him as prime minister.
2003 August Car bomb in Beirut kills a member of Lebanon's militant
Hizballah group. Hizballah and a government minister blame Israel for the blast.
2003 December Security forces arrest two men suspected of planning attack on US embassy in Beirut.
2004 January Lebanon resumes capital punishment and executes three convicted murderers.
Spotlight on Syria
2004 August In a stark reminder of Syria's continuing iron grip in Lebanon, Syria insists that President Lahoud, whom it had selected for the country, remain in office beyond the constitutional limit of one six-year term. Despite general Lebanese outrage, the Lebanese parliament did Syria's bidding,
permitting Lahoud to serve for three more years.
2004 September A Security Council resolution asks Syria to remove the troops it has stationed in Lebanon for the past 28 years. Syria responded by moving about 3,000 troops from the vicinity of Beirut to eastern Lebanon, a gesture that was viewed by many as merely cosmetic.
2005 February Former prime minister
Rafik Hariri is killed in a massive car bomb attack in Beirut. The cabinet of Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns after two weeks of anti-Syrian rallies sparked by the assassination. There are growing calls for Syria to withdraw its troops.
A
Cedar Revolution
2005 March Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese people answered an opposition call for a massive protest to demand a full Syrian troop withdrawal, resignations of security chiefs and an international investigation into the death of former Premier Rafik
Hariri.
Days after his resignation, pro-Syrian former PM Omar Karami is asked by the
President to form a new government. Opposition politicians had not fielded a candidate.
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Facts
Country
Name
Conventional long form Lebanese Republic
Conventional short form Lebanon
Local short form Lubnan
Local long form Al Jumhuriyah al Lubnaniyah
Capital City Beirut
Languages Arabic
[official], French [official], English
Official Currency Lebanese Pound
Religions
Islam, Christian
Land Area 10,230 sq km
[3,950 sq miles]
Water Area
222 sq km
Total Area
10,452 sq km
Location Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean
Sea, between Israel and Syria.
Natural resources limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land
Population
[2004 est.]
3,777,218
Age structure
0-14 years 26.9% [male 517,356; female 496,888]
15-64 years 66.3% [male 1,197,430; female
1,305,339]
65 years and over 6.9% [male 117,930; female
142,275]
Population growth rate 1.3%
Birth rate 19.31 births/1,000 population
Death rate 6.28 deaths/1,000 population
Infant mortality rate 25.48 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth
Total
population 72.35 years
Female 74.91 years
Male 69.91 years
Total fertility rate 1.95 children born/woman
Ethnic groups Arab 95%, Armenian 4%, other 1%
Religions Muslim 59.7% [5 legally recognized Islamic groups - Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite or
Nusayri], Christian 39% [11 legally recognized Christian groups - 4 Orthodox Christian, 6 Catholic, 1
Protestant], Other 1.3%
[2002
estimates -- Muslim 70%, Christian 30%]
Phoenician-Lebanese
Contributions to the World
The Alphabet
During the 2nd millennium BC, the Phoenicians devised a unique technique of writing. Instead of having a different symbol or sign stand for each word as had the Egyptians, they used the same sign whenever a particular sound occurred. The sequence of letters was named the Alphabet after the first two letters in the list Alpha and Bet.
The Phoenician Alphabet had 22 letters and was the direct ancestor of later alphabets: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic and Armenian.
One common misconception about the Phoenician Alphabet is that it contained no vowels. However, the first letter is an Alpha or an A in today's Alphabet. It also contained an I and an O.
Law School In the First century, Roman Berytus
[Beirut] was already well known for its school of law. Beirut was called "Mother of Laws" and had, along with Rome and Constantinople, one of only three law schools of antiquity. One of the most renowned law teachers, Papinien, professed, 1800 years before the United Nations, that all men are created equal.
Interestingly enough, is the fact that one of the co-authors of the United Nations Human Rights Charter was also Lebanese, Dr. Charles
Malik.
Mathematics Pythagoras, the inventor of the multiplication tables, the founder of the hypothenuse theorem and discoverer of the magic of numbers, was born and raised in
Sidon.
Paper Money Paper money has found its origin in the Tyrian an Carthagenian use of inscribed triangular pieces of leather.
Open Seas Naval Vessels The Phoenicians, in pursuit of commercial outlets and subsequently for the protection of their trade routes, had to develop vessels over 100 feet long, which were capable of traversing the Mediterranean and sailing into the Atlantic reputedly reaching the Americas more than two millenniums before the Vikings. A Phoenician fleet circumnavigated the African Continent, proving that it was surrounded by water, about two millenniums before Vasco de Gama managed to duplicate their feat.
The Purple Dye Sidon and Tyre were reputed to produce the finest purple dye for garments. The dye was extracted from the murex, a
mollusk found on the Mediterranean shore. In the 4th century, 12 ounces
[325g] of purple dye was selling for the equivalent of $25,000 US.
This high price made it accessible only to the extremely rich, mostly royalty, which is why it later became known as royal purple.
The Largest Roman Temple Built in Baalbeck
[City of Baal] or Heliopolis [City of the Sun in Greek]. The largest Roman temple, the temple of Jupiter has the size of a city block. Its base is made of block stones, each having 60ft length, weighing 1,400,000 lbs and needing some 40,000 men to move it.
The Theory of the Atom Mochios of Sidon discovered the existence of the Atom and formulated its theory more than 3000 years ago.
The North Star The properties of the North Star and its viability as a navigational reference were discovered by the Phoenicians. So closely associated with them that it was called the "Phoenician Star" up until the 19th century.
Transparent Glass The Invention of transparent glass is universally attributed to the Phoenicians of the first century BC.
Europa Europa the princess of Tyre, gave her name to the Continent. Myth has it that she was kidnapped by Cadmus and taken to Greece, where she taught them the use of the Alphabet. This myth reflects the reality that the Greeks acquired their Alphabet from the Phoenicians.
Other Facts
1.
Lebanon has been occupied by over 15 countries.
[Egyptians - Hittites - Assyrians - Babylonians - Persians - Alexander the
Great - The Roman Empire - Byzantine - The Arabian Peninsula - The
Crusaders - The Ottoman Empire - Britain - France - Israel - Syria]
2. Byblos is the oldest city in the world.
3. Lebanon's name has been around for 4,000 years; it's the oldest
nation's name in the world.
4. Lebanon is the only Asian-African country that doesn't have a desert.
5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon; all of them coming from it's
mountains.
6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in it's archeological
sites in the world.
7. The 1st alphabet was created by Cadmus in Byblos.
8. The only temple of Jupiter [the main Greek God] is in Baalbeck,
formerly known as Heliopolis [The City of the Sun].
9. The name of the BIBLE comes from the name of our city Byblos.
10. Lebanon is the country who has the most books written about it.
11. Lebanon is the only non-dictated country in the Arab world.
12. Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon.
13. The Phoenicians built the 1st boat ever.
14. Phoenicians reached America long before Christopher Columbus.
15. The 1st law school was built in Lebanon.
16. People say that the cedars were planted by God's own hands, this is
why they're called God's trees.
17. The Rawsheh rock in Beirut is known to be a suicide site because of
the huge number of people who've killed themselves there.
Big
Numbers; Small Country
1.
17 religious communities.
2. 40 daily newspapers.
3. 42 universities.
4. Over 100 banks.
5. 70% of the students are in private schools.
6. 30% of the Lebanese population are Christians [this is the highest % in
all the Arab countries].
7. There's 1 Doctor/10 people [in Europe & America there's 1
Doctor/100
people]
8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament
9. The name CEDAR also appears 75 times in the Old Testament!!
10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times [this is why it's compared
to The Sphinx].
11. There are 3,500,000 Lebanese in Lebanon.
12. There are 5,630,000 Lebanese outside Lebanon.
Military
Power
Military
branches Lebanese Armed Forces include Army, Navy and Air
Force.
Military Manpower [2004
est.]
Age of military service 18
Ages 15 to 49 availability 1,049,097
Ages 15 to 49 fit for military service 643,050
Because most powerful Lebanese factions were more loyal to their confessional group or clan than their country, Lebanon's armed forces have often fragmented during crises, as happened during the escalation of fighting in 1984.
In 1999 the army consisted of 60,670 troops, the navy 1,200 and the air force 1,700. There is also an internal security force under the Ministry of Interior. However, since the 1990s, stronger military power in Lebanon has been held by
20-30,000 Syrian troops.
These forces have enforced the Syrian government's will in Lebanon since 1976, and especially since 1984.
Primary Military Equipment
Ground forces Main battle tank group consists of M-48, T-54's and T-55's.
Sea power Seven patrol craft and two amphibious boats.
Air power Negligible
Political Issues
The government faces serious economic challenges. It has funded reconstruction by tapping foreign exchange reserves and by borrowing heavily, mostly from domestic banks. The government's policies have failed to address growing budget deficits and national debt. Also, the gap between rich and poor widened in the 1990s, resulting in grass-roots dissatisfaction over the skewed distribution of the benefits of the country's reconstruction since the 1975-90 civil war.
Sources
of Instability
Borders of dispute
Continued presence of 30,000 Syrian troops in northern, central and eastern Lebanon since October 1976. Christian and Muslim groups in the country remain at odds and heavily armed, as are the Druze in the south central mountains. A variety of armed international militant groups, including
Hizballah, Islamic Jihad and several Palestinian factions, make their home in Lebanon and don't necessarily respect the government's authority.
Hizballah guerrillas conduct cross-border attacks on Israel. The Lebanese government claims Shab'a Farms area of Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as a part of Lebanon.
Human rights
The government's overall human rights record is poor, although some improvement has been seen. The right of citizens to change their government remains significantly restricted by the lack of government control over parts of the country, shortcomings in the electoral system and Syrian influence. Among other problems: use of excessive force; surveillance of citizens; lengthy pretrial detention; courts subject to political pressure; abuse of detainees; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention of those opposed to government policies. International observers report that trials of former South Lebanon army were not free and fair.
The government has reportedly infringed on citizens' privacy rights, press
freedom, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion.
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Political Figures
Camille
Chamoun
Dany
Chamoun
Bashir
Gemayel
Michel
Aoun
Heads
of State
Charles Debbas
Greek-Orthodox
Habib Bacha El-Saad
Maronite
Ayoub Tabet
Maronite
Emile Eddé
Maronite
Alfred Naccache
Maronite
Petro Trad
Greek-Orthodox
Bechara Khoury
1943-1952
Maronite
Camille Chamoun
1952-1958
Maronite
Fouad Chebab
1958-1964
Maronite
Charles Hélou
1964-1970
Maronite
Sleiman Frangieh
1970-1976
Maronite
Elias Sarkis
1976-1982
Maronite
Bashir Gemayel
Sept 1982
Maronite
Amine Gemayel
1982-1988
Maronite
René Moawad
1988-1989
Maronite
Elias Hirawi
1989-1998
Maronite
Emile Lahoud
1998-2005
Maronite
Country
Assessment
Overview
History
Overview
We
The People...
America
& Lebanon
Café
Liban Forum
Writings
guestBook
Who
I Am
Thornless
Joseph
Daniel Chamoun
Suzie
J. Daniel
My
Lebanon is Just Like Yours
Religion
Maronite
Catholic
Sunni Muslim
Shi'a Muslim
Greek Orthodox
Druze
Armenian Catholic
Alawites
Protestant
Roman
Catholic
Human
Rights
Specific Groups
Aoun
supporters
Lebanese
Forces
Palestinians
South
Lebanese Army
Opponents
of Hizballah
Military Service Evaders
Human Rights
Other Issues
Freedom
of Political Association
Freedom
of Assembly
Freedom
of Speech and of the Press
Freedom
of Religion
Freedom
from Racial Discrimination
Freedom
from Movement/Internal Flight
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