Lebanon

Lebanon (Arabic: لبنان ), officially the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية ), is a small, largely mountainous country in the Middle East, located at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. more...

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Lebanon is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. The flag of Lebanon features the Lebanon Cedar in green against a white backdrop, with two horizontal red stripes on the top and bottom.

Until the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), the country enjoyed remarkable prosperity. It was considered the banking capital of the Arab world and was widely known as the "Switzerland of the Middle East" due to its financial power. Lebanon also attracted large numbers of tourists, to the point that the capital Beirut became widely referred to as the "Paris of the Middle East".

Immediately following the end of the war, there were widespread efforts to revive the economy and rebuild national infrastructure, with the first positive results becoming evident in recent years. By early 2006, a considerable degree of stability had been achieved throughout much of the country, Beirut's reconstruction was almost complete, and an increasing number of foreign tourists were pouring into Lebanon's resorts. However, the commencement of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict on July 12, 2006 brought mounting civilian and military casualties, great damage to civilian infrastructure, and massive population displacement. As of September 2006, the Lebanese government has been acting out an early recovery plan aimed at reconstructing property destroyed by Israeli attacks in Beirut, Tyre, and other villages in southern Lebanon.

Etymology

The name Lebanon ("Lubnan" in standard Arabic; "Lebnan" or "Lebnèn" in local dialect) is derived from the Semitic root "LBN", which is linked to several closely-related meanings in various languages, such as white and milk. This is regarded as reference to the snow-capped Mount Lebanon. Occurrences of the name have been found in three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh (2900 BC), the texts of the library of Elba (2400 BC), and the Bible.

In British English, the country is sometimes referred to with the definite article as "the Lebanon", like the Sudan, the Ukraine, or The Gambia. Prepending a "the" to the name possibly results from the fact that when these names came into usage, they were merely geographical regions, rather than independent states.

Geography and climate

A Middle Eastern country, Lebanon is bordered by the Mediterranean to the west with a 225 km coastline, by Syria to the east and north, and by Israel to the south. The Lebanon-Syria border stretches for 375 km, while the Lebanon-Israel border is 79 km in length. The border with the Israel-occupied Golan Heights in Syria is disputed by Lebanon in a small area called Shebaa Farms, but the border has been demarcated by the United Nations (see Blue Line).

Read more at Wikipedia.org