ABSTRACT
Lebanon's mountainous terrain provided a good hiding place for vulnerable religious minorities, and over the centuries three groups found sanctuary there. One was the Maronite Christians, who take their name from their patron saint, Maron. Another group seeking sanctuary in Lebanon was the Druze. In the eleventh century, they left Egypt for Lebanon, where they settled in the southern part of the country. The third minority was the Shi'a. Many fled Egypt after rival Sunnis replaced the Shi'a Fatimid dynasty and extended the Sunni influence into Lebanon. Ottoman forces also cut down great cedar forests to fuel their supply trains, and publicly executed Lebanese who revolted against them. In December 1990, Saudi Arabia exercised its diplomatic influence in the city of Taif to broker the Taif Accord of December 1990, which ended the civil war and restructured the Lebanese political system. Lebanon's national political system has always struggled to unify a factional country.
