Lebanon

Lebanon is a classic case of a Middle Eastern country the territories of which, populated by a variety of Muslim and Christian groups, have always constituted a terrain in which great powers (France or the USA) and/or regional powers (Israel, Syria or Iran) play out their conflicting interests. Of the c. 5.5 million people of Lebanon (including Palestinian refugees, as well as Syrians), some 65% are Shi‘a and Sunni Muslims, whereas the rest are Christians, Orthodox and Maronites (the largest Christian sect, owing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Pope). Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire and, much like other Middle Eastern states, was basically created after the First World War. It became a French mandated territory, with the Maronites and other Christians receiving greater support than the Muslims. Nevertheless, in the greater Lebanon were included Muslim-majority areas often traditionally considered part of Syria, including the Akkar district and Tripoli (Tarabulus) in the north and the Beka’a Valley in the east and they often claimed union with Syria. Lebanon suffers from the fact that it has been very close to a permanent war zone since 1948-the Arab-Israeli conflict. Like Jordan (although there the numbers are greater), Lebanon also suffers from the presence of Palestinian refugees, over 500,000 of which have been accumulating there since Israel’s foundation. Lebanon, which was granted independence in 1943, has abstained from attacking Israel in all the major ArabIsraeli wars since 1948, although the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) under Yasser Arafat mounted some well-orchestrated attacks on Israel from Lebanese soil. Yet, Lebanon itself was already plagued by domestic problems, namely the clash between the Christian Phalangists, armed by the West, and the Muslims, reinforced by the Palestinians, who had poured into the country en masse in the 1960s and 1970s. Syria deployed an army in Lebanon in 1976 and supported the Palestinians, whereas Israel began backing the South Lebanese Army (SLA) against the Shi‘a militias. In 1978 Israel occupied a zone close to the border in order to prevent Shi‘a militias launching rocket attacks on Israeli towns and other targets. A full-scale invasion of Lebanon by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) took place in 1982, soon after an assassination attempt of the Israeli Ambassador in London. The IDF entered Beirut and, reportedly, atrocities were committed against Palestinians in their refugee camps. The IDF’s presence in

Lebanon incited the creation of Hezbollah, a Shi‘a militant group mainly supported by Iran and designated by the USA as a terrorist group. Hezbollah launched a guerrilla war on the Israelis and they are generally credited with the withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon-the last troops leaving in May 2000. However, incursions by both Israelis and Hezbollah across border areas have taken place since, with the Hezbollah trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers and use them as bargaining chips in political negotiations. The last war between Hezbollah and Israel took place in the summer of 2006, which resulted, once again, in the withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon. The tactics pursued by the Shi‘a militias make them elusive, as they launch their rocket attacks on Israel and then hide among the civilian population, making it difficult for Israel to retaliate successfully without outraging world public opinion by shelling villages and towns. This type of asymmetric conflict is advantageous to the weak, being debilitating for the high-tech weaponry and other regular military techniques that Israel can master better than most armies in the developed world. The Shi‘a crescent in the greater Middle East, mainly backed by Iran, is the USA’s main preoccupation in its post-9/11 military adventures in a region that stretches from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea, southwards to the Persian (Arabian) Gulf and embraces the Saudi peninsula and the Suez Canal.