ABSTRACT
It is without doubt that the human and economic consequences of nearly sixteen years of wars and armed conflicts in Lebanon (1975-1990) have been devastating. During “les evénements” (the events), as the Lebanese still refer to this period of time, over 150,000 people (about 5 per cent of the resident population!) were killed and more than 300,000 were maimed, injured or disabled (Saidi 1994: 199). Tens of thousands of Lebanese became impoverished, displaced or exiled, the basic infrastructure – roads, communications, electricity, water, etc. – was damaged to a great extent. According to Corm, the destruction of public and private property totaled in a range between 20 and 30 billion US dollars (Corm 1994: 218).
