Lebanese Republic
LEBANON. Lebanese Republic
A state in the Middle East, located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Area - 10,452 km². Capital - Beirut (1.5 million, including suburbs), largest cities: Tripoli (over 200 thousand),
Sidon (70 thousand), Zahle (40 thousand). Administrative division - 5 governorates (muhafaz). Population - approximately 3.9 million (2005 estimate), about 90% of whom are Arabs, the rest are Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Circassians, Assyrians, and others. Lebanon hosts approximately 350 thousand Palestinian refugees. The official language is Arabic, with French and English widely spoken. Religion - Islam and Christianity. There are 17 main religious communities: Muslim - Sunni, Shia, Druze; Christian - Maronite, Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, Armenian-Gregorian, and others. Muslims make up an estimated over 60% of the population. The currency is the Lebanese pound = 100 piastres.
The Lebanese Republic has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (established with the USSR on August 5, 1944).
National holiday - November 22 - Independence Day (1943).
Lebanon is a parliamentary republic. The constitution of 1926, with subsequent amendments, is currently in effect. According to the National Pact of 1943, the highest state positions are distributed based on confessional affiliation.
The President (elected by the Chamber of Deputies for a term of 6 years) can only be a Maronite. On October 15, 1998, the commander of the Lebanese army, E. Lahoud, was elected to this position, and his powers were extended by parliament for 3 years in September 2004. The Prime Minister is a Sunni Muslim (since July 2005 - F. Siniora). In the 1990s and early 2000s, the government was repeatedly headed by R. Hariri (who resigned in October 2004 and was killed in a terrorist attack in Beirut on November 14, 2005). The chairman of the legislative body - the Chamber of Deputies (a unicameral parliament consisting of 128 deputies elected by direct vote for a term of 4 years based on equal representation of Christians and Muslims) - is a Shia Muslim (since September 1996 - N. Berri). Regular parliamentary elections were held in May - June 2005.
Currently, influential forces in the Shia community include the pro-Iranian organization "Hezbollah" (leader - H. Nasrallah) and the Shia movement "Amal" (chairman - N. Berri). In the Sunni community, the most influential bloc is "Mustaqbal," led by S. Hariri (son of R. Hariri). There are also fundamentalist groups ("Jamaat Islamiya" and others). In the Christian community, the most active are the Maronite "Kataeb" (Lebanese Phalanges), the "Kornet Shehwan" alliance, and the Free Patriotic Movement led by General M. Aoun, who returned to the country in May 2005 after 15 years of exile. The National Liberal Party and the National Bloc also hold some influence. The Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), which relies on the Druze community, plays an active role in the political life of the country, led by W. Jumblatt.
In recent years, the influence of parties advocating Arab nationalism, such as the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the Arab Socialist Resurrection Party (Ba'ath), and the People's Nasserist Organization, has declined. In the Armenian community, the positions of the "Dashnaktsutyun" (Armenian Revolutionary Federation), "Ghnchak," and "Ramkavar" parties are strong. The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) is also active.
Trade union associations: General Confederation of Workers in Lebanon, League of Trade Unions of Workers and Employees, Federation of Independent Trade Unions, and others.
Since 1945, Lebanon has been a member of the UN and the League of Arab States.
In the 4th - 2nd millennia BC, Phoenician city-states emerged on the territory of Lebanon. In the 7th century, these lands were conquered by the Arabs. From the early 16th century until the end of World War I, Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire. In the autumn of 1918, it was occupied by Anglo-French troops.
Since 1920, Lebanon has been a mandate territory of France. On May 26, 1926,
the French High Commissioner promulgated a constitution based on which Lebanon was proclaimed a republic; however, France retained control over its foreign relations and defense. After the articles of the constitution that limited the country's sovereignty were repealed, on November 22, 1943, Lebanon was officially proclaimed independent, although French troops remained on its territory until December 31, 1946.
In 1958, a decisive uprising of the Lebanese people, supported by Arab countries, led to the failure of military intervention in Lebanon's internal affairs by the USA.
In April 1975, a severe political crisis erupted in Lebanon, which escalated into an armed conflict between Christian factions and the Palestinian resistance movement (PDS), and later with Muslims. In 1976, inter-Arab peacekeeping forces (numbering about 35,000) were introduced into Lebanon, primarily composed of Syrian troops. After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425, UN Interim Forces (UNIFIL) were deployed in the southern regions of the country, whose mandate is periodically extended. In the summer of 1982, Israeli troops occupied a significant part of Lebanese territory and held it until June 1985. Subsequently, they maintained control over the so-called security zone in the south of the country, ranging from 10 to 25 km wide (totaling about 1,000 km²). In May 2000, Israeli troops were withdrawn from Lebanon.
In August 1982, the USA initiated the introduction of so-called multinational forces into Lebanon, which were formed bypassing the UN from troops of the USA and several NATO countries that, together with Israel, directly participated in combat operations on the side of right-wing Christian factions. On May 17, 1983, a "peace agreement" was concluded with Israel. Opposition forces to the agreement formed the Lebanese National Salvation Front (NSF) in June 1983. Thanks to the active actions of the NSF and support from Arab countries, the multinational forces were forced to leave Lebanese territory. On March 5, 1984, Lebanon denounced the "peace agreement" with Israel.
With the active participation of the "Committee of Three" of the League of Arab States (Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Morocco) and with international support, it was possible to develop the Charter of National Accord of Lebanon (or Taif Agreement). This document was adopted by the deputies of the Lebanese parliament on October 22, 1989, at a meeting in the city of Taif (Saudi Arabia) and was later ratified at a session of the Chamber of Deputies in Lebanon. The Charter provides for a phased departure from confessionalism and deep reform of the state governance system. Only the highest state positions were secured for representatives of the three main communities, and Muslim representation in the Chamber of Deputies was equalized with Christian representation (before Taif, this ratio was 5:6). The Taif Agreement received broad international support. Based on it, the National Accord Government, despite active opposition from the Maronite community, held elections for the country's parliament in August - September 1992.
On December 2, 2004, the UN Security Council, at the initiative of the USA and France, adopted Resolution 1559, calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon and the disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese armed groups ("Hezbollah" and Palestinians). In March - April 2005, the Syrian military contingent and security forces were withdrawn from Lebanon.
A traditional distinguishing feature of Lebanon is the poverty of natural resources, weak development of industry and agriculture against a high level of development in the service sector, banking and finance, and tourism. The structural sectors of Lebanon's economy are services, including banking (61%), industry (27%), and agriculture (12%).
The prolonged civil war, repeated armed interventions, and the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon have had a severely negative impact on the internal economic situation, leading to a decline in business activity and disruption of trade and economic ties. The Lebanese authorities are making active efforts to emerge from the economic crisis. They place great hopes on foreign investments and the overseas assets of Lebanese people (there is a Lebanese diaspora abroad, including in North and South America and some European countries; its number is estimated to exceed 10 million people).
In 1989, the International Fund for the Assistance of Lebanon was established. Since 1992, the government has been implementing the reconstruction and development plan "Horizon-2000," which is projected until 2007 and requires investments in the economy totaling $60 billion.
In December 1996, an international conference "Friends of Lebanon" was held in Washington, where the Lebanese government was promised financial support in the form of concessional loans and grants totaling $3.2 billion by 2000. At the creditors' conference for Lebanon "Paris-2" (November 2002), Beirut managed to achieve partial restructuring of its external debt and obtain concessional loans of more than $4 billion for the implementation of national economic stabilization programs.
Recently, there have been signs of some improvement in the overall economic situation in the country. GDP grew by 5% in 2004, amounting to about $18.5 billion (in 2003 - $17.4 billion). A weak point remains the constantly growing public external and internal debt, which exceeded $35 billion in 2005. In contrast, the private banking sector is thriving - its assets exceeded $60 billion in 2004.
Sufficiently high rates of recovery of the national economy and infrastructure have been ensured.
The main sectors of industry are textiles, food, and construction materials. The basis of agriculture is the production of citrus fruits, apples, olives, and vegetables. Cereals, melons, tobacco, and grapes are also grown.
The largest daily newspapers: "An-Nahar," "As-Safir," "Ad-Diyar," "Al-Mustaqbal," "Al-Balad," "Al-Liwa," "Ash-Sharq."
