History of Lebanon

Lebanon is a small country (10 452 km²) which is situated in the Middle East between Syria in the north and east, and Israel in the south.

For more than 400 years, Lebanon was a part of Greater Syria under the Ottoman Empire until the French mandate of 1916.

In 1920, France formed the state of Greater Lebanon which became the Lebanese Republic in 1926.

Finally, Lebanon gained its independence in 1943. Its unwritten National Pact of 1943 required that the President be Christian and the Prime Minister Muslim (Sunnite).7

Lebanon is a parliamentary, democratic Republic which follows a political system known as confessionalism meant to distribute powers among different sects; 128 parliamentary seats are divided equally among Christians and Muslims (before the Taef agreement the ratio was 6/5 in favor of the Christians). According to the Constitution, parliamentary elections are held every four years and the parliament should elect the President for a non-renewable six years term. The President appoints the Prime Minister after obligatory parliamentary consultation, and then the Prime Minister forms the Cabinet, which must also hold on to sectarian distribution.

It is estimated that about 59% of the Lebanese population are Muslims (Sunnis, Shiites, and Druze) and 39% are Christians (Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Catholics, Armenian Apostolic, and Assyrian Church of the East). There is also a population of approximately

75 000 Kurds, and 394 532 Palestinian refugees (according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA).