Lebanon is a small country at the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea . The Nature of Lebanon being distinguished from the mostly desert-countries surrounding it, along with the impact of the civilizations that inhabited Lebanon through thousands of years reached its peak in the second half of the 20th century, when Lebanon enjoyed prosperity, a free economy and the title of “ Most Civilized an
d Democratic” country of the region. The major Arab-Israeli conflict has found in Lebanon a landing on which to move the fight. Syrian, Palestinian and Israeli forces overtook the Lebanese territory moving their fight, since the 1970’s to the neutral country, too small to defend herself. Arms and funding were being funneled into Lebanon while several countries, Syria, Iran, Israel, Lybia and Palestinians were sponsoring guerillas trying to take place in a battle that is not on their own land. Great destruction and hundreds of thousands of casualties (mostly Lebanese civilians) transpired in Lebanon . All the while, relatively minor events were going on in the neighboring countries: Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories. The UN Security Council issued several resolutions regarding Lebanon which were issued, but most of them were never enforced. Lebanon Now:
1.The Syrian army withdrew its troops from Lebanon late April 2005 after 30 years of occupation. The Syrian forces in Lebanon were estiamted to include 30,000 troops and about 20,000 intelligence agents (that is equivalent to sending 4 million troops to occupy the US). Syria detains hundreds of Lebanese in its prisons without charges.
2.Palestinians-There are approximately 400,000+ ungoverned Palestinians still living in camps in Lebanon and harboring armed guerrillas without any regard for the Lebanese people or country (This is equivalent to placing 50 million refugees in the United States at one time).
3.Israeli troops withdrew from the south of Lebanon on May, 2000, which they had occupied for 22 years. Israel holds a Lebanese man in an Israeli prison without charges. In July-August 2006, Israel launched an attack on Lebanon leaving over 1200 in casualties. The aggression was ended with a resolution from the UN in August 2006.
4.The Lebanese people were forced to leave their country due to economical disaster caused by the political crisis and Syrian illegal labor-force in Lebanon until May 2005. Approximately 35% of the Lebanese population left the country ever since 1990, when Syrian troops completely captured the capital Beirut.. Lebanon, the country that used to be called the “ Switzerland of the East”, now experiences a damaged Economy while trying to reform its Syrian-modeled totalitarian regime, and to restore its records in human rights that were violated under Syrian control (for Details). Also, the country is trying to recover from the Israeli attack of 2006.
