World Country Lebanon

About the world country Lebanon, its location, size, population, and who is in power.

NATIONS OF THE WORLD

LEBANON

Location: On the eastern Mediterranean coast, between Syria and Israel. Size: 4,015 sq. mi. (10,400 sq. km.). Population: 3,071,000.

Who Really Rules: For many years Lebanon served as the financial and commercial center of the Middle East, but the prosperity that it brought multinational corporations and the Lebanese merchant class did not spread throughout the society. Ancient religious conflicts, the presence of Palestinian Muslim refugees, and social inequities created the diverse forces that exploded in the 1975-1976 civil war. Although there continues to be fighting, some commerce has returned, but the Lebanese central government and army are having a difficult time establishing authority.

Different zones of the country are governed by right-wing Christian militias; the Lebanese National Movement, a front of leftist Muslims; the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); Syrian troops leading an Arab internal peace-keeping force; U.N. troops monitoring areas near the Israeli border; and Maj. Saad Haddad's "Free Lebanon" militia of right-wing Christians and Shiites, which, with Israeli help, controls a 700-sq.-km. area on the Israeli border. In retaliation against Palestinian raids against Israel, Israeli forces frequently bomb or raid Palestinian and leftist zones within Lebanon.