Historical Background

Located on the Eastern shore of the Mediterranean between Syria and Israel, Lebanon is a comparatively small country of around 10,452 sq km in size. When the Ottoman Empire lost control over Mount Lebanon during the First World War, France stepped in and enlarged the former Ottoman province in 1920 by adding the port towns of Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon and Tyre as well as the Bekaa Valley and the Northern and Southern border areas to what was referred to then as Grand Liban (Greater Lebanon). After it was awarded a mandate over this territory in 1922 by the League of Nations, France put a constitution in place in 1926 that was left largely untouched even after Lebanon’s independence in 1943. In the unwritten National Pact of November 1943, Christian and Muslim politicians agreed to maintain the proportional system of power sharing along sectarian lines, according to the size of the respective groups, which is still applied today. Under this agreement the President has to be a Christian Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker of Parliament a Shiah Muslim. In the meantime social conflicts increased within society mainly due to systematic discrimination against large parts of the Muslim population and other sectarian factions in economic and political terms. These tensions in combination with the intervention of foreign powers in domestic and foreign affairs culminated in civil war in 1975. It was only in 1991 two years after the signing of the Ta'if Accord that this long and fiercely fought civil war came finally to an end. The same year the newly established Lebanese government entered into a brotherhood contract with Syria on close cooperation and coordination of policies, though which Syria gained considerable influence on Lebanese domestic affairs. Since 1998, an increasing militarization and Syrian influence on the state could be observed and reached a high during the parliamentary elections 2000 which took place under a Syrian conducted electoral law favouring pro-Syrian factions. Related to the dominant Syrian presence – military as well as administrative – the discontent of the Lebanese people, with the exception of pro-Syrian factions, increased. It culminated after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005, for which the Syrian and Lebanese regimes were hold responsible. Because of enormous public protests and high international pressure the Syrian military and intelligence forces withdrew from Lebanon at the end of April 2005 after 29 years of occupation. In May and June 2005 the first parliamentary elections without Syrian presence took place.