Lebanon

4/1/24

Overview

Join Active Minds as we trace the history of the current situation in Lebanon. We will provide the background necessary to understand the rise of Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Shiite militia, and Lebanon’s role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the complex relationship with its neighbor Syria. Come learn how this important country fits into the puzzle that is the Middle East.

Key Lecture Points

  • The earliest inhabitants of the region we now know as Lebanon were the Canaanites or Phoenicians. These Phoenicians survived nearly constant invasion from regional empires, contributing to the significant cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity in Lebanon today.
  • What is now Lebanon came under the control of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 through the end of WWI, when it became part of The French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon. Lebanon became independent in 1943.
  • Lebanon is a “confessional state,” where power is allocated partially on the basis of religious representation. Lebanon’s Constitution and informal “National Pact” protect this status quo. The delicate balance of Lebanese politics is dominated by two coalitions. The March 14 Alliance is an anti-Syrian alliance of Sunni Muslims and some Maronite Christians. The Hezbollah-dominated March 8 Alliance unites Hezbollah with many Maronite and other Christian political parties. As of 2024, the Lebanese parliament has been deadlocked, unable to elect a president since Michael Aoun left officially left office in 2022.
  • In the 1980s, in the midst of a Lebanese Civil War, Iran supported the founding of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a Shi’a Islamist political party and military. Today, Hezbollah holds significant legitimate political power in the country; the group’s paramilitary wing is also considered perhaps the most competent and experienced military force in the Arab world.
  • The 1989 Taif Accord marked the first steps toward ending the civil war. By 1991, all militias except Hezbollah had been dissolved, marking the formal end of the war. Syrian troops remained in Lebanon until the Cedar Revolution of 2005.
  • The 2008 Doha Accord created a national unity government and parliament successfully elected a Christian Maronite president. The accord also deepened the legitimacy of Hezbollah as a force in Lebanese politics, even while the US identified it as a major terrorist group.  Hezbollah’s role in Lebanon has become an increasing focus in the aftermath of the October 2023 attack upon Israel by Hamas and Israel’s response in Gaza.  While Hezbollah (Shi’a) and Hamas (Sunni) are separated by sect, they share an enmity for Israel.  Hezbollah has launched a steady, low-level rocket barrage upon northern Israel that has continued into 2024.
  • The Syrian Civil War beginning in 2011 has exacerbated sectarian disunity in Lebanon as well as increased friction between the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance and the pro-Syrian March 8 Alliance with Hezbollah taking an active role in the war to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Its participation has undermined its credibility both domestically and internationally.
  • Palestinian refugees fled to Lebanon following the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-49, the Six Days War of 1967 and the expulsion of Palestinian refugees from Jordan in 1970.  As of 2024, there are approximately 210,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon.  Thus, 25% of the people living in the tiny space of Lebanon are refugees, creating hardships for Lebanese residents, along with government failure to provide basic living standards.

Discussion Questions

  • What are some reasons for conflicts about identity in Lebanon? Are the reasons primarily historical, or primarily based on outside intervention in the country? How did the Syrian Civil War and the new tensions in Palestine played into different ideas about Lebanese identity?
  • What are the major obstacles to forming a government in Lebanon?
  • Is Lebanon a model for other governments, where religious difference is a fundamental part of political identity?
  • What are your impressions of Lebanon? How did you form your impressions (media, knowing people from the region, reading history, firsthand experience)?

More to Explore

Books For Further Reading

  • Arsan, Andrew. Lebanon: A Country in Fragments. Hurst & Co., 2018. 450 pages. This is an account not just of Lebanon's high politics, with its endless rows, walk-outs, machinations, and foreign alliances, but also of the politics of everyday life: all the stresses and strains the country's inhabitants face, from electricity black-outs and uncollected rubbish to stagnating wages and property bubbles.
  • Cleveland, William L. and Martin Bunton. A History of the Modern Middle East. 6th ed. Westview Press, 2016. 624 pages. This book examines the profound and often dramatic transformations of the region in the past two centuries, from the Ottoman and Egyptian reforms, through the challenge of Western imperialism, to the impact of US foreign policies. Built around a framework of political history, while also carefully integrating social, cultural, and economic developments, this expertly crafted account provides readers with a comprehensive, balanced, and penetrating analysis of the modern Middle East.
  • Norton, Augustus Richard. Hezbollah: A Short History. 3rd ed. Princeton, 2018. A hybrid of militia, political party, and social services and public works provider, the group is the most powerful player in Lebanon. This incisive account stands as the most lucid, informed, and balanced analysis of Hezbollah yet written. Reviewed by Newsweek as “the best recent study of Hezbollah.”