History Of Political Crises In Lebanon

HISTORY OF POLITICAL CRISES IN LEBANON Lebanon's history since independence has been marked by periods of political turmoil interspersed with prosperity built on Beirut's position as a regional center for finance and trade. In 1958, during the last months of President Camille Chamoun's term, an insurrection broke out, and U.S. forces were briefly dispatched to Lebanon in response to an appeal by the government. During the 1960s, Lebanon enjoyed a period of relative calm and Beirut-focused tourism and banking sector-driven prosperity. Other areas of the country, however, notably the South, North, and Bekaa Valley, remained poor in comparison. In the early 1970's, difficulties arose over the presence of Palestinian refugees, many of whom arrived after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, the secret 1969 Cairo Agreement permitting the establishment of Palestinian camps in Lebanon, and 1970 "Black September" hostilities in Jordan. Among the 1970 arrivals were Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Coupled with the Palestinian problem, Muslim and Christian differences grew more intense. Beginning of the Civil War--1975-81 Full-scale civil war broke out in April 1975. After shots were fired at a church, gunmen in Christian East Beirut ambushed a busload of Palestinians. Palestinian forces joined predominantly leftist-Muslim factions as the fighting persisted, eventually spreading to most parts of the country and precipitating the Lebanese President's call for support from Syrian troops in June 1976. In fall of 1976, Arab summits in Riyadh and Cairo set out a plan to end the war. The resulting Arab Deterrent Force, which included Syrian troops already present, moved in to help separate the combatants. As an uneasy quiet settled over Beirut, security conditions in the south began to deteriorate. After a PLO attack on a bus in northern Israel and Israeli retaliation that caused heavy casualties, Israel invaded Lebanon in March 1978, occupying most of the area south of the Litani River. In response, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces and creating the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), charged with maintaining peace. Israeli forces withdrew later in 1978, turning over positions inside Lebanon along the border to their Lebanese ally, the South Lebanon Army (SLA) under the leadership of Maj. Sa'ad Haddad, thus informally setting up a 12mile wide "security zone" to protect Israeli territory from cross border attack. U.S. Intervention--1982-84 An interim cease-fire brokered by the U.S. in 1981 among Syria, the PLO, and Israel was respected for almost a year. Several incidents, including PLO rocket attacks on northern Israel, as well as an assassination attempt on the Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom, led to the June 6, 1982 Israeli ground attack into Lebanon to remove PLO forces. Operation "Peace for Galilee" aimed at establishing a deeper security zone and pushing Syrian troops out of Lebanon, with a view toward paving the way for an IsraeliLebanese peace agreement. With these aims in mind, Israeli forces drove 25 miles into

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Lebanon, moving into East Beirut with the support of Maronite Christian leaders and militia. In August 1982, U.S. mediation resulted in the evacuation of Syrian troops and PLO fighters from Beirut. The agreement also provided for the deployment of a multinational force composed of U.S. Marines along with French and Italian units. A new President, Bashir Gemayel, was elected with acknowledged Israeli backing. On September 14, however, he was assassinated. The next day, Israeli troops crossed into West Beirut to secure Muslim militia strongholds and stood aside as Lebanese Christian militias massacred almost 800 Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Israel's then-Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon was held indirectly responsible for the massacre by the Kahane Commission and later resigned. With U.S. backing, Amin Gemayel, chosen by the Lebanese parliament to succeed his brother as President, focused anew on securing the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces. The multinational force returned. On May 17, 1983, Lebanon, Israel, and the United States signed an agreement on Israeli withdrawal that was conditioned on the departure of Syrian troops. Syria opposed the agreement and declined to discuss the withdrawal of its troops, effectively stalemating further progress. In August 1983, Israel withdrew from the Shuf (southeast of Beirut), thus removing the buffer between the Druze and the Christian militias and triggering another round of brutal fighting. By September, the Druze had gained control over most of the Shuf, and Israeli forces had pulled out from all but the southern security zone, where they remained until May 2000. The virtual collapse of the Lebanese Army in February 1984, following the defection of many Muslim and Druze units to militias, was a major blow to the government. With the U.S. Marines looking ready to withdraw, Syria and Muslim groups stepped up pressure on Gemayal. On March 5, 1984 the Lebanese Government canceled the May 17 agreement; the Marines departed a few weeks later. This period of chaos witnessed the beginning of terrorist attacks launched against U.S. and Western interests. These included the April 18, 1983 suicide attack at the U.S. Embassy in West Beirut (63 dead), the bombing of the headquarters of U.S. and French forces on October 23, 1983 (298 dead), the assassination of American University of Beirut President Malcolm Kerr on January 18, 1984, and the bombing of the U.S. Embassy annex in East Beirut on September 20, 1984 (9 dead). It also saw the rise of radicalism among a small number of Lebanese Muslim factions who believed that the successive Israeli and U.S. interventions in Lebanon were serving primarily Christian interests. It was from these factions that Hizballah emerged from a loose coalition of Shi'a groups. Hizballah employed terrorist tactics and was supported by Syria and Iran. Worsening Conflict and Political Crisis--1985-89 Between 1985 and 1989, factional conflict worsened as various efforts at national reconciliation failed. Heavy fighting took place in the "War of the Camps" in 1985 and 1986 as the Shi'a Muslim Amal militia sought to rout the Palestinians from Lebanese

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strongholds. The Amal movement had been organized in mid-1975, at the beginning of the civil war, to confront what were seen as Israeli plans to displace the Lebanese population with Palestinians. (Its charismatic founder Imam Musa Sadr disappeared in Libya three years later. Its current leader, Nabih Berri, is the Speaker of the National Assembly.) The combat returned to Beirut in 1987, with Palestinians, leftists, and Druze fighters allied against Amal, eventually drawing further Syrian intervention. Violent confrontation flared up again in Beirut in 1988 between Amal and Hizballah. Meanwhile, on the political front, Prime Minister Rashid Karami, head of a government of national unity set up after the failed peace efforts of 1984, was assassinated on June 1, 1987. President Gemayel's term of office expired in September 1988. Before stepping down, he appointed another Maronite Christian, Lebanese Armed Forces Commanding General Michel Aoun, as acting Prime Minister, contravening Lebanon's unwritten "National Pact," which required the prime minister to be Sunni Muslim. Muslim groups rejected the move and pledged support to Salim al-Hoss, a Sunni who had succeeded Karami. Lebanon was thus divided between a Christian government in East Beirut and a Muslim government in West Beirut, with no president. In February 1989 Aoun attacked the rival Lebanese Forces militia. By March he turned his attention to other militias, launching what he termed a "War of Liberation" against the Syrians and their Lebanese militia allies. In the months that followed, Aoun rejected both the agreement that ultimately ended the civil war and the election of another Christian leader as president. A Lebanese-Syrian military operation in October 1990 forced him to take refuge in the French Embassy in Beirut and later to go into a 15-year exile in Paris. After Syrian troop withdrawal, Aoun returned to Lebanon on May 7, 2005 and won a seat in the 2005 parliamentary elections. His Free Patriotic Movement became a principal element of the pro-Syrian opposition bloc. End of the Civil War--1989-91 The Ta'if Agreement of 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the war. In January of that year, a committee appointed by the Arab League, chaired by Kuwait and including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco, had begun to formulate solutions to the conflict, leading to a meeting of Lebanese parliamentarians in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, where they agreed to the national reconciliation accord in October. Returning to Lebanon, they ratified the agreement on November 4 and elected Rene Moawad as President the following day. Moawad was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut on November 22 as his motorcade returned from Lebanese Independence Day ceremonies. Elias Hrawi, who remained in office until 1998, succeeded him. In August 1990, parliament and the new President agreed on constitutional amendments embodying some of the political reforms envisioned at Ta'if. The National Assembly expanded to 128 seats and was divided equally between Christians and Muslims (with Druze counted as Muslims). In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that pardoned all political crimes prior to its enactment. The amnesty was not extended to crimes perpetrated against foreign diplomats or certain crimes referred by the cabinet to the Higher Judicial Council. In May 1991, the militias (with the important exception of

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Hizballah and Palestinian militias) were dissolved, and the Lebanese Armed Forces began to slowly rebuild itself as Lebanon's only major nonsectarian institution. In all, it is estimated that more than 100,000 were killed, and another 100,000 left handicapped, during Lebanon's 16-year civil war. Up to one-fifth of the pre-war resident population, or about 900,000 people, were displaced from their homes, of which perhaps a quarter of a million emigrated permanently. The last of the Western hostages taken during the mid-1980s were released in May 1992. Postwar Reconstruction--1992 to 2005 Postwar social and political instability, fueled by economic uncertainty and the collapse of the Lebanese currency, led to the resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami in May 1992, after less than 2 years in office. Former Prime Minister Rashid al Sulh, who was widely viewed as a caretaker to oversee Lebanon's first parliamentary elections in 20 years, replaced him. By early November 1992, a new parliament had been elected, and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri had formed a cabinet, retaining for himself the finance portfolio. The formation of a government headed by a successful billionaire businessman was widely seen as a sign that Lebanon would make a priority of rebuilding the country and reviving the economy. Solidere, a private real estate company set up to rebuild downtown Beirut, was a symbol of Hariri's strategy to link economic recovery to private sector investment. After the election of then-commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Emile Lahoud in 1998, following Hrawi's extended term as President, Salim al-Hoss again served as Prime Minister. Hariri returned to office as Prime Minister in November 2000. Although problems with basic infrastructure and government services persist, and Lebanon is now highly indebted, much of the civil war damage was repaired throughout the country, and many foreign investors and tourists returned. In early April 1996, Israel conducted a military operation dubbed "Grapes of Wrath" in response to Hizballah's continued launching of rockets at villages in northern Israel. The 16-day operation caused hundreds of thousands of civilians in south Lebanon to flee their homes. On April 18, Hizballah fired mortars at an Israeli military unit from a position near the UN compound at Qana, and the Israeli Army responded with artillery fire. Several Israeli shells struck the compound, killing 102 civilians sheltered there. In the "April Understanding" concluded on April 26, Israel and Hizballah committed themselves to avoid targeting civilians and using populated areas to launch attacks. The Israel-Lebanon Monitoring Group (ILMG), co-chaired by France and the United States, with Syria, Lebanon, and Israel all represented, was set up to implement the Understanding and assess reports of violations. ILMG ceased operations following the May 2000 Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. On May 23, 2000, the Israeli military carried out a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from the south and the Bekaa Valley, effectively ending 22 years of occupation. The SLA collapsed and about 6,000 SLA members and their families fled the country, although more than 3,000 had returned by November 2003. The military court tried all of the SLA

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operatives who remained in the country and the average sentence handed down was 1year imprisonment. On June 16, 2000, the UN Security Council adopted the report of the Secretary General verifying Israeli compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425 (1978) and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to their side of the demarcated Lebanese-Israeli line of separation (the "Blue Line") mapped out by UN cartographers. (The international border between Lebanon and Israel is still to be determined in the framework of a peace agreement.) In August 2000, the Government of Lebanon deployed over 1,000 police and soldiers to the former security zone, but Hizballah also maintained observation posts and conducted patrols along the Blue Line. While Lebanon and Syria initially agreed to respect the Blue Line, both since have registered objections and continue to argue that Israel has not fully withdrawn from Lebanese soil. As regional tension escalated with the Palestinian intifada in September 2000, Hizballah cited Blue Line discrepancies when it reengaged Israel on October 7, taking three Israeli soldiers captive in an area known as Sheba'a Farms. (In 2001, the Israeli Government declared the three soldiers were believed to be dead.) Sheba'a Farms, a largely unpopulated area just south of the Blue Line opposite the Lebanese town of Sheba'a, was captured by Israel when it occupied Syria's Golan Heights in 1967. The Lebanese Government has repeatedly laid claim to the area since shortly before Israel's general withdrawal. Meanwhile, the Syrian Government has verbally stated that the Sheba'a Farms tract is Lebanese, but, as with the rest of the Lebanon-Syria border, has been unwilling to commit to a formal border demarcation in the area. As a result of secret mediation by the German Government, Israel released a number of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in early 2004 in exchange for Elhanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli reservist abducted by Hizballah in late 2000. In January 2000 the government took action against Sunni Muslim extremists in the north who had attacked its soldiers, and it continues to act against groups such as Asbat alAnsar, which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, and other extremists. On January 24, 2002, Elie Hobeika, a former Lebanese Forces figure associated with the Sabra and Shatila massacres and who later served in three cabinets and the parliament, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. A September 2004 vote by the Chamber of Deputies to amend the constitution to extend President Lahoud's term in office by 3 years amplified the question of Lebanese sovereignty and the continuing Syrian presence. The vote was clearly taken under Syrian pressure, exercised in part through Syria's military intelligence service, whose chief in Lebanon had acted as a virtual proconsul for many years. Syria, which views Lebanon as part of its own territory, has not signed a boundary agreement with Lebanon and does not have normal diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The UN Security Council expressed its concern over the situation by passing Resolution 1559, also in September 2004, which called for withdrawal of all remaining foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces throughout the country, and a free and fair electoral process in the presidential election.

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Syrian Withdrawal--2005 Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, who had resisted Syria's effort to secure Lahoud's extension, and 19 others were assassinated in Beirut by a car bomb on February 14, 2005. The assassination spurred massive protests in Beirut and international pressure that led to the withdrawal of the remaining Syrian military troops from Lebanon on April 26. In the months that followed Hariri's assassination, journalist Samir Qassir, Lebanese politician George Hawi, and journalist Gebran Tueni were murdered by car bombs, and Defense Minister Elias Murr and journalist May Chidiac narrowly avoided a similar fate when they were targeted with car bombs. The UN International Independent Investigative Commission (UNIIIC) headed by Detlev Mehlis began an investigation of Hariri's assassination and related crimes, beginning with the October 2004 attempt to assassinate Communications Minister Marwan Hamadeh. Serge Brammertz took over the investigation at the beginning of 2006. In December 2006, the Lebanese cabinet approved an agreement with the UN Security Council to create a special tribunal of international character which would be responsible for trying those who might be indicted as a result of the investigation. President Lahoud, Parliament Speaker Berri, and the Shia ministers who resigned from Lebanon's cabinet in November 2006 did not recognize the cabinet's decision on this matter, however. Parliamentary elections were held May 29-June 19, 2005 and the anti-Syrian opposition led by Sa'ad Hariri, Rafiq Hariri's son, won a majority of 72 seats (out of 128). Hariri ally and former Finance Minister Fouad Siniora was named Prime Minister and Nabih Berri was reelected as Speaker of Parliament. Parliament approved the first "made-in-Lebanon" cabinet in almost 30 years on July 30. The ministerial statement of the new cabinet (which included two Hizballah ministers), a summary of the new government's agenda and priorities, focused on political and economic reform, but also endorsed Hizballah's right to possess military weapons to carry out a "national resistance" against the perceived Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. Hizballah forces continued to launch sporadic military strikes on Israeli forces, drawing responses that produced casualties on both sides and, on two occasions in 2001, Israeli air strikes on Syrian radar sites in Lebanon. Israel continues to violate Lebanese sovereignty by conducting overflights of Lebanese territory north of the Blue Line. UNIFIL has recorded numerous violations of the Blue Line by both sides since the Israeli withdrawal. In general, however, the level of violence along the Israeli-Lebanon front decreased dramatically from May 2000 until mid-2006. War with Israel--2006 On July 12, 2006, Hizballah guerillas crossed into Israel, killed three Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two others, precipitating a war with Israel. Israeli air strikes hit Hizballah positions in the south and strategic targets throughout Lebanon, and Israeli ground forces ground forces moved against Hizballah in southern Lebanon. Hizballah resisted the ground attack and fired thousands of rockets at civilian targets in Israel. By the time the war ended, on Aug. 14, an estimated 1200 Lebanese civilians and hundreds of Hizballah fighters had died, along with 119 Israeli military and 43 Israeli civilians. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, provided for a ceasefire, Israeli

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withdrawal and lifting of blockades, disarming of Hizballah and other militias, and a ban on unauthorized weapons transfers into Lebanon. UNSCR 1701 also significantly strengthened UNIFIL's mandate and authorized its enlargement from about 2,000 initially up to a maximum of 15,000. Bolstered by UNIFIL, which by the beginning of 2007 had more than 11,000 personnel, the Lebanese Armed Forces deployed to southern Lebanon and the border with Israel for the first time in almost four decades. The war temporarily or permanently displaced roughly one-fourth of Lebanon's population, and caused enormous damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The country, which was already seriously indebted, suffered roughly $5 billion in damages and financial losses. The international community provided massive humanitarian relief, plus substantial aid for economic reconstruction and reform, with $940 million in aid pledged at an August 31, 2006 donors conference in Stockholm and $7.6 billion in pledges announced at a Paris conference January 25, 2007. Aid pledged in Paris was to be coordinated with the Lebanese Government's program for fiscal and economic reform. Although Syria withdrew its military forces from Lebanon, intelligence assets remained, and Syria continues to have a strong influence in Lebanese politics. In November 2006, as Siniora's cabinet neared approval of the Hariri tribunal, pro-Syrian ministers, including all the Shi'ite ministers, withdrew from the cabinet. Led by Hizballah, pro-Syrian forces began months of massive demonstrations, sit-ins, and occasional violence with the aim of either paralyzing or bringing down the cabinet. Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel, son of ex-president Amin Gemayel, was assassinated November 21. Postwar Reconstruction--1992 to Present Postwar social and political instability, fueled by economic uncertainty and the collapse of the Lebanese currency, led to the resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami, also in May 1992, after less than 2 years in office. He was replaced by former Prime Minister Rashid al Sulh, who was widely viewed as a caretaker to oversee Lebanon's first parliamentary elections in 20 years. By early November 1992, a new parliament had been elected, and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri had formed a cabinet, retaining for himself the finance portfolio. The formation of a government headed by a successful billionaire businessman was widely seen as a sign that Lebanon would make a priority of rebuilding the country and reviving the economy. Solidere, a private real estate company set up to rebuild downtown Beirut, was a symbol of Hariri's strategy to link economic recovery to private sector investment. After the election of then-commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces Emile Lahoud in 1998 following Hrawi's extended term as President, Salim al-Hoss again served as Prime Minister. Hariri returned to office as Prime Minister in November 2000. Although problems with basic infrastructure and government services persist, and Lebanon is now highly indebted, much of the civil war damage has been repaired throughout the country, and many foreign investors and tourists have returned. If Lebanon has in part recovered over the past decade from the catastrophic damage to infrastructure of its long civil war, the social and political divisions that gave rise to and

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sustained that conflict remain largely unresolved. Parliamentary and more recently municipal elections have been held with fewer irregularities and more popular participation than in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, and Lebanese civil society generally enjoys significantly more freedoms than elsewhere in the Arab world. However, there are continuing sectarian tensions and unease about Syrian and other external influences. Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Ja'ja, convicted in 1994 for civil warrelated offenses, remains imprisoned, and the LF is still banned. In the late 1990s, the government took action against Sunni Muslim extremists in the north who had attacked its soldiers, and it continues to move against groups such as Asbat al-Ansar, which has been linked to Usama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. On January 24, 2002, Elie Hobeika, another former Lebanese Forces figure associated with the Sabra and Shatilla massacres who later served in three cabinets and the parliament, was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. An estimated 25,000 Syrian troops remain in position in many areas of Lebanon, notwithstanding Ta'if stipulations that called for agreement between the Syrian and Lebanese Governments on their redeployment by September 1992. They did not leave greater Beirut until mid-2001, a year after Israel withdrew from the south, where armed elements of Hizballah are still present. Sources: CIA World Factbook 2007, U.S. Dept. of State Country Background Notes (Source Date: 08/05)

ANOTHER HISTORY During the early months of 1975, sporadic violence between the two factions gradually erupted into a full-scale civil war that pitted Maronite Christians against Muslims and against other Christian sects, and rightist militants against Palestinian guerrillas and other leftist Arab forces. At least 100,000 people on all sides were killed and some 600,000 persons displaced during the eighteen months of fighting. In April 1976 Syrian forces entered Lebanon, in an apparent effort to prevent an all-out victory by left-wing Muslims and Palestinians; by the fall, some 20,000 Syrian troops controlled the Bekaa Valley. A cease-fire arranged through the mediation of Sa'udi Arabia and other Arab countries enabled a peacekeeping force (including Syrian troops) to separate the combatants and end the war in October. The conflict not only devastated Lebanon economically, but so weakened the central government that effective power lay with the Syrians, the Palestinians, and some thirty sectarian militias. In general, the Christian Phalangists held sway over east-central Lebanon; fighters loyal to Major Sa'ad Haddad, a right-wing Lebanese army officer, controlled the southern border area, in a security zone set up by Israel; and the PLO, other Muslim leftists, and Syrian forces occupied northern and eastern Lebanon. Despite the truce, the violence continued. On 14 September Bashir Gemayel, a Phalangist leader who in August had been elected president by the Lebanese parliament, was 8

assassinated. Almost immediately, Israeli troops moved into West Beirut to wipe out pockets of Palestinian resistance causing tens of thousands of casualties. Phalangist forces were allowed into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, and at least 600 Palestinians, many of them civilians, were massacred; a subsequent Israeli government inquiry was critical of senior officials for indirect responsibility for the killings. In 1983 Israeli and Syrian troops still occupied large portions of Lebanon, and they became targets of attack by Muslim and Druze forces. In May 1983 Lebanon, Israel, and the United States signed an agreement by which Lebanon and Israel agreed to end their state of war. Israel agreed to withdraw all its forces, and both countries agreed to establish a security zone in southern Lebanon patrolled by Lebanese forces and joint IsraeliLebanese teams. However, Syria opposed it and the agreement, never implemented, was repudiated by Lebanon in 1984. The American embassy in Beirut was bombed in April 1983, and US marines were harassed by sniper fire. On 23 October, 241 of them were killed by a truck-bomb explosion in their barracks at Beirut airport; on the same day, a similar bombing caused at least fifty-eight deaths at a French paratroop barracks. Shortly before, Lebanon and Syria had agreed to a cease-fire pending a reconciliation conference, which began in Switzerland in November, with all major Lebanese political factions participating. Meanwhile, fighting broke out between a radical Syrian-supported PLO faction and guerrillas loyal to Yasser Arafat, chairman of the organization; defeated at Tripoli, Arafat withdrew from Lebanon in December. As 1984 began, the position of the government headed by Amin Gemayel, who had been elected president to succeed his brother, was deteriorating. In February the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy pulled their ground troops and nonessential personnel out of the Beirut area. In March, the Lebanese reconciliation conference dissolved without reaching substantial agreement. The following month a "national unity" government was formed, bringing together the leaders of all the major warring factions. But it almost never met and could not pacify the country; intermittent clashes between factions continued. Israel's withdrawal of its troops from Lebanon (except the south) in early 1985 left in its wake renewed fighting for the evacuated territory. In December a Syriansponsored cease-fire agreement that included constitutional reforms was signed by the Druze, Amal (Shi'i), and Christian factions, but its terms were never implemented. The general lawlessness encouraged terrorist groups of all kinds to promote their own ends by assassinations, kidnappings, and bombings. Among the most feared was the Hezbollah, or Party of God, which was aligned with fundamentalist Iranian Revolutionary Guards. In 1985–86 there was sporadic fierce fighting between Palestinian and Shi'i Amal militia. Syria pushed for political reform and, when opposed by Gemayel and militant Christians, influenced Muslim ministers not to deal with the president, thus paralyzing the government. With the economy in serious decline, Prime Minister Rashid Karami was assassinated to be succeeded by Salim al-Huss. The badly divided factions could not agree on a successor to Gemayel when his term expired in September 1988. Christian Army Commander Michel Aoun asserted himself as prime minister, giving Lebanon two

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governments, a Muslim one in West Beirut and a Christian one in East Beirut. Aoun was opposed by the Syrians and Muslims and by rival Christian factions. In January 1989 the Arab League appointed a committee on Lebanon which eventually, in September, arranged for a seven-point cease-fire and convened a meeting of Lebanese parliamentarians in Taif, Sa'udi Arabia. The Taif Accord that resulted in November led to the election of Elias Hrawi, a Maronite Christian, as president. He named al-Huss prime minister. When forces of General Aoun (who was technically deposed by Hrawi) attacked Christian and Syrian positions, they retaliated in strength and finally obliged him to take exile in France in 1991. In 1991–92 the government gradually began to reassert its authority. Militias, except notably Hezbollah and the Israeli-backed army of South Lebanon, were dissolved in May 1991. Palestinian militants were repressed in Sidon in July. In May 1992 the last western hostages were released after years of confinement. Lebanon joined the Israeli-Arab peace talks in Madrid in October 1991. Internally, the poor economy aggravated political instability, but parliamentary elections, the first in twenty years, were scheduled for 1992. Poor preparations, widespread irregularities, and Christian abstention produced results that did not prepare Lebanon for an assured future. Yet, the appointment of Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri in November 1992 promised a serious effort at reconstruction. Al-Hariri, a self-made billionaire who made his fortune in Sa'udi Arabia, was perceived by many to be a savior of sorts for the war-torn country. He had a long history of philanthropic giving, donating large sums to rebuild Beirut, for instance. As prime minister, he has been frequently accused of corruption and of making sure government rebuilding efforts were directed toward companies under his control. Still most Lebanese approved of his efforts to stabilize the country and unite its many long-warring factions. In 1996, al-Hariri was reelected prime minister in a unanimous vote of parliament. In 1996 Lebanon was still subject to political violence, especially in the Israeli occupied south, where that year 255 people were killed (twenty-seven Israeli soldiers) in violence. Fifty-four of the dead were members of Hezbollah, and nineteen were militiamen in the Israeli-controlled South Lebanon Army (SLA). The violence continued into 1997. The President Ilyas Hrawi had been elected to the six-year post in 1989. In 1995 when his term was set to expire in accordance with the constitution, parliament extended his term for an additional three years. Hrawi proved to be a weak leader and his standing with the Maronites was low. Emile Lahoud, of a prominent Maronite family, had been promoted to major-general in 1985, and general and army commander in 1989. In 1998 his name surfaced as a potential successor to Hrawi. In October 1998 the Assembly introduced an unparalleled amendment to the constitutional clause requiring senior public officials to leave office before running for president. Within two days Lahoud was elected president of the National Assembly. Lahoud was sworn in on 24 November 1998 as Lebanon's eleventh president. On 4 December 1998 Salim al-Huss began his fifth term as prime minister after Hariri's sudden resignation.

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In early 1999 fighting in southern Lebanon escalated as the Hezbollah staged attacks on Israeli forces and the Israeli-backed SLA. Israel retaliated on Hezbollah strongholds, and by February expanded air strikes beyond the "security zone" to southern and northern Lebanon. The al-Huss government's fiscal austerity aimed at reducing the deficit, which had grown to 15% of gross domestic product, met with resistance from the trade unions. On 24 June 1999 Israel destroyed bridges and power stations with its heaviest air raids in three years. In July 1999 the UN Security Council renewed for six months the mandate for UNIFIL, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, and restated its support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon. At the end of 1999 in anticipation of elections in August 2000, the government passed a law creating fourteen constituencies of suspiciously varying sizes based on rewarding or punishing political foes or friends. A bill to curb the media, limiting all elections news, advertisements, and coverage to the state-run Tele-Liban and Radio Liban, and limiting campaign spending was also drafted. On 24 May 2000 Israel made a quick withdrawal from southern Lebanon. With the Israeli withdrawal the SLA disintegrated. The exact border between Lebanon and Israel remained unsettled as they disputed ownership of the Shabaa Farms. The Lebanese government sent police and intelligence officers to the newly liberated area, but refused to deploy troops until there was evidence of stability or a comprehensive peace treaty with Israel. In March 2001, Lebanon began to divert waters from the Wazzani River to supply villages in southern Lebanon. The Wazzani feeds into the Hatzbani, which in turn flows into the Jordan River watershed and Lake Kinneret (Lake Tiberias or the Sea of Galilee), a major source of Israel's water supply. In September 2002, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon identified measures to divert water from Israel as a cause for war. Syrian troops withdrew from Beirut in June 2001 to redeploy in other parts of Lebanon, in response to greater Lebanese criticism of Syria's presence there. In February 2003, the Syrian army completed its redeployment out of north Lebanon. Up to 4,000 troops left north Lebanon for central Syria. The majority of the Syrian army left in Lebanon is assembled in a stretch of the Bekaa Valley on the Syrian border. In February, Lebanon warned Israel against expelling Palestinians to Lebanon if war were to break out in Iraq, stating such a move would be akin to declaring war. In response, Israel stated it had no such plans. As of early 2003, there were approximately 350,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Also in February, lsraeli warplanes flew over southern Lebanon, particularly over the Shabaa Farms, carrying out mock raids, at which Hezbollah fired anti-aircraft weaponry. Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchanged fire over the Shabaa Farms in January 2003, the first such exchanges since August 2002. Israel and Hezbollah are locked in a territorial dispute over the Farms, an area Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 war. Lebanon claims the region, although the UN holds that it belongs to Syria, and that Syria and Israel should negotiate its fate. Parliamentary elections held 27 August and 3 September 2000 resulted in the appointment on 23 October of Rafiq al-Hariri as prime minister once again.

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ANOTHER HISTORY Carved out of French protectorate in Middle East to create Christian-dominated state in Middle East 1920, Lebanon gained independence 1941. Entrenched divisions between country’s four principal religious-ethnic groups: Shia Muslim, Sunni Muslim, Druze, and Maronite Christian. An unwritten National Covenant 1943 outlined Lebanon’s confessional system, distributing seats in parliament and political appointments along religious lines, and dictating that president be Maronite Christian, PM Sunni, and speaker of legislature Shiite. This system was later recalibrated to reflect new political realities after civil war 1990 and continues to govern Lebanese politics today. After Palestinian defeat in 1948 war against Israel, large number of refugees arrived Lebanon; most never welcomed or integrated. Near-civil war in 1958 as government resisted pressure by Muslim community to join a pan-Arab republic with Syria and Egypt; Christian President invited U.S. intervention, which saw three-month occupation of parts of Beirut by U.S. force. Lebanon increasingly drawn into Middle East conflicts in the 1960s despite professed regional neutrality, becoming base for activities of Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) after PLO expelled from Jordan in 1970. PLO presence undermined Lebanese sovereignty and compromised state mechanisms; so did Israeli attacks on Lebanon. This was context for growing tensions between Christian Phalangists demanding Palestinian departure and other Lebanese communities. Those sectarian tensions ignited again in beginning of multi-phase Lebanese civil war 1975 after Phalangists killed 27 civilians in bus attack after suspected assassination attempt on Phalangist leader. Syrian troops became involved 1976 in attempt to end civil war, prompting Israeli fears of effective Syrian takeover of Lebanon, even as Syria attempted to rein in PLO. Israel itself invaded southern Lebanon 1978 up to Litani river; but then called on to withdraw by United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 425. Israel continued proxy control of Christian forces in running war in southern Lebanon which UN Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) proved incapable of stopping. Israel undertook full-scale invasion June 1982, ultimately pushing into Muslim West Beirut in attempt to drive out Palestinians, with strategic aim of installing Christian proIsraeli president. Israeli forces allowed Phalangist massacre of Palestinian civilians at Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Christian President Bashir Gemayel assassinated September 1982 and replaced by his brother, who initially signed peace deal with Israel under Israeli pressure but later reneged 1983 under Syrian pressure. Multi-National Force (MNF) consisting of Italians, French and U.S. troops arrived September 1982 to oversee withdrawal of several thousand PLO fighters from Lebanon; MNF itself became drawn into violence as victim of bombing of military base 1983, killing 241 and leading to withdrawal. Israel largely withdrew 1985, but continued to occupy southern Lebanon and supported proxy Christian Southern Lebanon Army (SLA) in running guerrilla war with Iranian-backed Hezbollah (see Iran), Shia grouping also suspected of being responsible for 1983 bombing.

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Final phase of civil war ran its course 1988-1990 with breakdown of façade of central government, splitting of authority between (Muslim) West and (Christian) East Beirut and doomed "war of liberation" waged by Christian General Michel Aoun against Syrian forces. Syrian bombing of Presidential palace October 1990 and President/General Aoun's departure to French embassy generally seen as end of civil war, allowing establishment of renewed national covenant (detailed in 1990 Ta’if Accord) more closely following demographic realities of country. 1990s saw unsteady return to peace, with rebuilding of political system and dispersal of standing militias, but continued presence of Israeli soldiers in the south and also Syrian forces, who remained highly influential in Lebanese politics. Ongoing low-level conflict between Hizbollah, Israeli forces and Israeli-backed SLA continued, culminating in 1996 invasion by Israel in “Operation Grapes of Wrath”, which launched two-week period of intense fighting marked by attacks on civilians by both sides. Israeli forces unilaterally withdrew from Lebanon May 2000, but Syrian troops remained. UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in October 2004, called for Syrian withdrawal and end to its interference in political affairs. Assassination of PM Rafiq Hariri in February 2005 prompted large-scale demonstrations in Beirut against Syrian influence as opposition extracted resignation from pro-Syrian government. Syria withdrew its 15,000 troops April 2005. 12 July 2006, Hizbollah launched cross-border raid on Israel killing 8 and kidnapping 2. Israel responded with sea, land and air blockade, attacks on Hizbollah positions in south and country-wide bombing of Shia areas, state infrastructure and some economic targets; Hizbollah launched over 4,000 rockets in return. After 34 days of war, approximately 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis killed. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which led to 14 August ceasefire, calls for Hizbollah to move north of Litani river to allow Lebanese army and strengthened UN force (UNIFIL) of 15,000 to deploy to southern Lebanon. Conflict ended without a definitive victory allowing both sides to claim victory: Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah annouced a “divine victory” based on Hizbollah endurance. Israeli PM Olmert said ceasefire agreement eliminated Hizbollah’s “state within a state”. Israeli Defence Forces experienced some major setbacks leading to Israeli criticism over the conduct of the war. U.S. $940 million pledged by international donors at Stockholm conference to help rebuild south Lebanon. ANOTHER HISTORY Lebanon was created in its present boundaries in 1920 under the French mandate. It became independent in 1943. Inter-community rivalries have been endemic, but until the 1970s were generally kept within bounds by a complex confessional system, enshrined in the 1943 National Pact. Under this system the President is a Maronite Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the Speaker of Parliament is Shia Muslim. These divisions are reflected throughout the Cabinet and civil service. In 1970, large numbers of PLO fighters expelled from Jordan sought refuge in Lebanon leading to further destabilisation. In 1975/1976 there was a civil war which pitted a

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coalition of Christian groups against the joint forces of the PLO, left-wing Druze and Muslim militias. It ended in Syrian intervention, at the Lebanese government's request, initially to prevent a Christian defeat. The presence of the Syrian forces was subsequently authorised by an Arab League mandate as the 'Arab Deterrent Force'. But despite its presence, intermittent fighting continued, and between 1975 and 1982 an estimated 10% of the Lebanese population was killed or wounded. In 1982, the PLO presence in Lebanon led to an Israeli invasion. A multinational Force of US, French and Italian contingents was deployed in Beirut after the Israeli siege of the city, to supervise the evacuation of the PLO. It returned in September 1982 after the assassination of Bashir Gemayel and the subsequent massacres by the pro-Israeli Christian Phalange militia in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila. A British contingent (of approximately 100) joined the multinational Force in February 1983. Following a deterioration in the security situation, the multinational Force was withdrawn in the spring of 1984. In May 1984 a Syrian-supported Government of National Unity was formed. Negotiations at Syrian insistence between the three main militia/political groups (AMAL, PSP and the Christian Lebanese Forces) on political reforms in Lebanon led to the Tripartite Accord of 1985. It involved progress towards the total deconfessionalisation of the political system within a decade and consolidation of privileged Syrian/Lebanese relations. Tension within the Christian community over the Accord led to the Lebanese Forces coup of January 1986 in which the pro-Accord leaders of the LF were displaced. Heavy fighting in February 1987 in West Beirut between AMAL and a coalition of leftwing forces headed by the Druze militia led to renewed Syrian military intervention. Other clashes were mainly between AMAL, and the Palestinians. In September 1988 Lebanon slipped further into crisis when the Parliament failed to elect a successor to President Gemayel as a result of differences between the Christians and the Muslims and Syrians. Gemayel's final act was to appoint the Maronite commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Aoun, as Prime Minister. The legitimacy of this government was disputed by the acting Prime Minister of the previous administration, Selim Hoss (a Sunni). This led to virtual partition along sectarian lines. Hoss's government was based in West Beirut, while Aoun occupied the Presidential Palace at Baabda in the East. The rivalry erupted into fighting in March 1989 following Aoun's blockade of the Muslim ports in South Beirut. There was heavy shelling of the Christian enclave by Syrian forces, returned by Aoun's troops. During the fighting more than 800 were killed. The Arab League Summit of May 1989 led to the formation of a three man committee of the Kings of Morocco and Saudi Arabia and the President of Algeria, charged with solving the crisis. On 16 September 1989 they issued a seven-point peace plan for Lebanon. This was accepted by both Hoss and Aoun, as well as by the Syrians. As a result, a ceasefire was established, the ports and airports were re-opened and the refugees began to return. In September 1989, the Lebanese Parliament was convened in Taif, Saudi Arabia, which agreed a Charter for National Reconciliation, known as the Taif Accord. This included an outline timetable for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, initially from Beirut, and a formula for the deconfessionalisation of the Lebanese political system.

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A meeting of Lebanese Deputies in Kleat, Northern Lebanon, on 5 November 1989 ratified the Taif Accord and elected Rene Moawad, a Maronite Christian, as President. The election was welcomed by the UK and by most of the international community. Aoun declared the elections illegal, and announced that he would be holding elections himself in 1990. Moawad was however assassinated on 22 November 1989 and his successor, Elias Hrawi, immediately removed Aoun from his command of the Lebanese Armed Forces, surrounding the Christian enclave with Syrian troops. The anticipated Syrian attack on the enclave did not materialise as, from January - May 1990, East Beirut was locked in an internecine struggle between Christian forces. This caused extensive damage and loss of life. The fighting almost halted the economic cycle of the country and led to increased unemployment and the emigration of skilled workers. Aoun was forced out of the Christian enclosure by a Syrian air attack in October 1990. Aoun took refuge in the French Embassy from which he went into exile in France. After sixteen years of civil war, peace returned to Lebanon at the end of 1990. There has been no significant fighting in the country (excepting the troubles in South Lebanon) for some years and the main political groupings accept the Taif Accord as the basis of a postwar settlement. Following the Taif Accord, south Lebanon remained the one area of active fighting. Israel continued to occupy part of south Lebanon with Israeli Defence Force soldiers and a Lebanese proxy-army, the South Lebanon Army .During the period of occupation, Hizballah emerged as the main Shia militia opposing the Israeli occupation and the Lebanese government continued to accept their control of south Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal. UN Security Council Resolution 425 in 1978 called for Israel's unconditional withdrawal from Lebanese territory and established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The interim force was deployed in Lebanon outside the security zone but could not intervene in the fighting. The Israelis withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000. The United Nations established a 'Blue Line' on the ground. The Blue Line is the best possible assessment of the international border (based on the 1923 border agreed between Britain and France). Between 2000 and 2006, the Blue Line has remained largely stable, with occasional exchanges of fire, until July 2006 when Hizballah launched a raid over the border to capture Israeli soldiers, sparking 34 days of intense conflict between Israel and Hizbollah. Since the cessation of hostilities established by UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the deployment of a much larger UNIFIL presence in south Lebanon, the border has largely been calm. But the potential for escalation remains high.

Political system and history since Syrian withdrawal The principle of confessionalism is central to Lebanon's political system. Under the Taif Accord (the agreement that ended the civil war in 1990), senior positions of state are divided amongst the different confessional groups. The President is a Christian (Maronite), the Prime Minister is Sunni and the Speaker of the Parliament is a Shi'ite. Parliament is similarly divided with an equal number of Christian and Muslim MPs.

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General Emile Lahoud was unanimously elected President by the Lebanese parliament in October 1998. Under Syrian pressure the Lebanese parliament passed a constitutional amendment to extend President Lahoud’s term in office in September 2004. Prior to the extension of President Lahoud’s mandate, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1559 on 2 September 2004. This resolution called for respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence of Lebanon under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon throughout Lebanon; all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon; and the disbanding of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia. On 14 February 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, was assassinated in a bomb that killed 19 others and injured over 200. In Lebanon it was widely believed that Syria was involved in this attack and on 14 March 2005 approximately one million demonstrators came out onto the street to demand the departure of Syrian forces. In response to domestic and international pressure, Syria withdrew and a UN verification team reported on 23 May 2005 that all Syrian troops had withdrawn from Lebanon, although it was uncertain whether all intelligence personnel had left. On 7 April 2005 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1595, which asked that the UN Secretary General to establish an International Independent Investigation Commission into the Hariri assassination. The work of the commission is ongoing. Elections for the Lebanese National Assembly were then held over four consecutive weekends beginning in Beirut on 29 May 2005 and finishing in northern Lebanon on 19 June 2005. This resulted in victory for the "14 March" coalition (named after the largest bloc of protesters against the Hariri assassination). Subsequently Fouad Siniora was appointed Prime Minister of a coalition government including several of the major parties. The 2006 conflict between Israel and Hizballah

On 12 July 2006 a major conflict erupted between Lebanon and Israel when the militia of the Shiite party, Hizballah, kidnapped two Israeli soldiers from Israeli territory and killed a further eight. This led to a massive retaliatory response by Israel, in which Israel attacked sites across Lebanon. According to official Lebanese figures, 1,187 Lebanese people died in the hostilities and over 4,000 were injured. The majority of them were civilians, and many of them children. There was extensive damage to infrastructure and up to a million people were displaced from their homes, mainly from the south of the country. Hizballah responded to the counter-attack with a volley of rocket attacks over the border. In total, Hizballah fired approximately 4,000 rockets in to Israel. These unguided missiles landed on towns and cities in northern Israel, including Haifa, Israel’s third largest city. In total 117 Israeli soldiers were killed in the attacks and 43 civilians, with another 100

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injured. Some 300,000 Israelis were also displaced during the conflict in response to the missile attacks. Following intense diplomatic activity at the UN to bring hostilities to an end, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1701 on 11 August 2006, which called for a full cessation of hostilities. A formal ceasefire came into place on 14 August 2006.

Recent Political Developments Lebanon has been embroiled in a political crisis since early 2006. The crisis was triggered by disagreements over the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is intended to seek justice for the killing of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. This political crisis was further exacerbated by the outbreak of a major conflict between Hizballah and Israel in July and August 2006. The situation further deteriorated in November, when six Ministers from the Hizballah-led opposition resigned from the Cabinet, over plans to set up the Tribunal.. The Parliament remained closed during that time and hundreds of opposition demonstrators camped out in central Beirut until May 2008 Inter communal clashes that erupted on 7 May 2008 led to the Doha Agreement among rival political leaders. General Michel Sleiman, the Lebanese army commander, was elected as President on 25 May 2008,ending a seven-month vacuum in the presidency after the mandate of the former President, Emile Lahoud, expired on 23 November 2007. A National Unity Government was agreed on 11 July headed by PM Fouad Siniora. This Government received a vote of confidence by the Lebanese Parliament on 12 August 2008 Despite the progress made with the resolution of the political crisis, , the security situation has remained precarious. Since the beginning of 2008 there has been a spate of violence across Lebanon, including rockets fired into Israel; attacks against peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon; attacks against US Embassy employees; members of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces andArmed Forces; and intercommunal violence in several regions in Lebanon. The most recent tensions occurred in and around Tripoli where there have been a number of serious clashes since May. A serious bomb attack also occurred there on 13 August 2008. Political assassinations in Lebanon have also continued, including those of MP Antoine Ghanem in September 2007, senior army officer, Brigadier-General Francois al Hajj in December 2007 and Major Wisam El-Eid in January 2008. There have also been a number of violent demonstrations: in the most serious of these in January 2008 seven people were killed. These killings are among twenty others that have taken place since 2005, and which the UN is helping the Government of Lebanon to investigate. Tensions were further increased by the assassination of the Hizballah’s second in command, Imad Mugniyah, in a car bomb in Damascus on 12 February 2008. Mugniyah had been one of the most wanted terrorists for over twenty years, for his suspected involvement in a number of terrorist attacks during the 1980s. Hizballah immediately accused Israel of having conducted the assassination.

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On 20 May 2007 clashes erupted between Fatah al-Islam, a radical Islamist group group, and the Lebanese army when security forces tried to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. Militants from Fatah al-Islam attacked army posts at the entrances to the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al Bared some 14km North of Tripoli. Almost all of the 30,000 civilians fled the camp and most are now living in poor conditions in the nearby Baddawi Refugee camp. Over 150 Lebanese soldiers and an unknown number of militants and civilians were killed in the violence. The fighting is the bloodiest internal conflict in Lebanon since the civil war ended 17 years ago. The Lebanese Army announced on 2 September 2007 that it had taken control of the camp and that hostilities had ended.

History of May 2008 Lebanon's government has maintained a contested hold on official state power in Lebanon without representation from Hizballah since they withdrew their ministers over one year ago. This week the government declared illegal Hizballah's independent communications network operating in Lebanon partly prompting the current crisis. Hizballah's independent communications system is considered to be a critical element to the success of the Lebanese resistance group's halting of Israel's 2006 attack on Lebanon. The fate of Hizballah's weapons is at the heart of Lebanon's political impasse pitting the pro-US government coalition versus the opposition -- fitting into the larger polarized pattern in the region. the Lebanese government decided to declare the Hizballah communications system or independent telephone grid as illegal. This is critical because this communications system was a major reason behind Hizballah's victory against Israel in July 2006. Given that the Hizballah system isn't wireless it is harder for Israel or the US to crack or decode this communications network. This communication system was key to Hizballah preventing Israeli forces from knowing the positions and movements of Hizballah and it's leadership during the war in 2006. So this current scenario commenced with instigation from the western-backed government. Additionally the government wanted to kick out a person in charge at the international airport in Beirut who is close to Hizballah, in order to replace them with another person who would not be able to assist Hizballah to know who travels in and out at the airport. These two actions from the government, the declaration of Hizballah's communication network as illegal and the attempt to oust a Hizballah-sympathetic person at Beirut's international airport, instigated the attack from the opposition, led by Hizballah. West Beirut is now under the control of the Lebanese army, after the opposition took over the party offices representing the March 14th movement. Lebanon's political parties have reached a deal on power sharing after crisis talks in the Gulf state of Qatar. The agreement between the Lebanese government and the

Hezbollah-led opposition comes days after pro- and anti-government protesters clashed in Lebanon's worst outbreak of internal violence since the 1975-1990 war.

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HISTORY OF HARIRI’S ASSASSINATION 2005 The incident that arguably solidified the Lebanese into two opposing camps was the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former Lebanese prime minister, in February 2005. During his second term as prime minister, al-Hairi allegedly made it clear to Syria that he wanted Lebanon to manage its own affairs. At the time, Syrian security forces and intelligence agents were maintaining a physical presence in Lebanon, which had begun in 1978 during Lebanon's civil war. Accusations surfaced after al-Hariri's assassination that Syria had a hand in the killing. Thousands of people took to the streets of Riad al-Solh Square in downtown Beirut on March 8, 2005, to show their support for Syria, while making it clear that it was time for Damascus to re-assess its presence in Lebanon. The demonstration was organised by Hezbollah, the Shia organisation and armed resistance movement linked to Iran and Syria. Thousands of people filled Martyrs' Square in the capital less than a week later, accusing Syria of killing al-Hariri and calling for Damascus to pull its forces out of Lebanon. This led to the creation of the March 14 movement, in almost direct opposition to that of March 8. Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon in April 2005 and Lebanon's political parties coalesced around the March 8 and March 14 movements. Which parties are involved? The March 14 Forces, the majority bloc in the Lebanese government, is ranged against the opposition March 8 and Free Patriotic Movement. The main players in the majority are the Future Movement (al-Mustaqbal), the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), the alKataeb (Phalange) party and the Lebanese Forces, although there are many others. The Future Movement, led by Saad al-Hariri, the son of Rafiq, is the largest party within the majority. What are the more immediate causes of Lebanon's current political crisis?

Hezbollah has wide popularity among Lebanese Shia Muslims [AFP]

There has been continued wrangling over power sharing following al-Hariri's assassination.

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Hezbollah has sought greater representation in the cabinet since the general election in 2005. It wants a third of the posts available in the cabinet, a demand rejected by the March 14 bloc. March 14 have said that Hezbollah wants a third of cabinet positions so that it can veto key decisions made by the executive. Shia ministers from Hezbollah and other political groups pulled their ministers out of the cabinet in November 2006. Supporters of the March 8 and Free Patriotic Movement pitched tents outside Siniora's office in Beirut to protest that they are not being represented in government. Several members of the March 14 bloc have been killed or injured in attacks amid the arguments over the division of political power. Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the PSP, has accused Syria and its "proxies" in Lebanon (such as Hezbollah) of leading a systematic campaign to reduce the March 14 bloc below the number of MPs needed to keep their majority in parliament. Damascus and the opposition in Lebanon deny Jumblatt's claim. The differences over power sharing have become so entrenched that Lebanon has been without a president (a post reserved for a Maronite Christian) since November 2006. The space remains vacant given that the opposition bloc has boycotted several parliamentary elections to elect a new president owing to the disputes over cabinet posts. Another cause for the political battle was Israel's war in Lebanon against Hezbollah in the summer of 2006. After standing up to Israel's military might for a month, Hezbollah declared a "divine victory". Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, became the latest hero of the Arab street and his movement was keen to leverage its success within Lebanon itself. It stepped up the pressure on the government of Fouad Siniora, which it said was "illegitimate" and a "tool of the West".

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