Lebanon 1999

In 1999, the population of Lebanon was estimated at approximately 3.6 million people. The economy of the country is based largely on services, industry and agriculture. Its main industries are banking and finance, tourism, textiles and food processing. Lebanon has a long history of strong foreign relations with other countries in the Middle East and beyond. In terms of politics, Lebanon has had a parliamentary republic since 1989 with Émile Lahoud as President since 1998. The Parliament of Lebanon is responsible for legislative authority in Lebanon and is elected by universal suffrage every four years. See ethnicityology for Lebanon in the year of 2018.

Yearbook 1999

Lebanon 1999

Lebanon. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Lebanon. The year was marked by continued attacks and counter-attacks between, on the one hand, the guerrilla group of Hizbullah (the Party of God) and, on the other, Israeli or Israeli-backed troops, especially in the zone occupied by Israel in southern Lebanon. On February 20, four Israelis were killed, including a brigade general, of a series of explosive charges that exploded around the car in which they were traveling through the zone. Israel responded by moving large military forces toward the Lebanese border, but no invasion ever came. At the same time, Israel occupied the village of Arnun just north of the zone, citing that Hizbullah would have used it as a base. The occupation was criticized by international overseers. In June, the Israeli-backed SLA (Southern Lebanese Army) withdrew from its base in Jezzine in the northeastern zone. The war affected the civilian population. Eight civilian Lebanese were reported to have been killed in June when Israel attacked infrastructure targets in central and southern L. Israel said the attacks were a reaction to Hizbullah killing two civilian Israelis in northern Israel, to which Hizbullah responded that that attack had been a reaction to a previous one. Israeli attack that had damaged seven Lebanese civilians. During the autumn, the character of the war changed. Since Israel’s newly elected Prime Minister Ehud Barak had promised that Israeli forces would have withdrawn by the summer of 2000, Hizbullah’s attacks on Israeli and Israel-friendly targets intensified, with Israel responding with escalated guerrilla air bombings. At the same time, Israel, in order to avoid losses, withdrew some of its ground troops. In the 1999 budget, the government sought to reduce the deficit through increased taxes and more efficient tax collection. Trade union organizations objected to the measures, which they believed would lower living standards for most residents.

  • Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of LBN which stands for Lebanon and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.

Map of Lebanon Beirut in English

In an attempt to curb the smuggling of weapons, Syrian military mined the border area to Lebanon – to considerable danger to both refugees and Lebanese.

From May 2012, open battles broke out again in Tripoli, and now it was mainly Salafists on one side and the Lebanese army on the other. Several were killed during salafist demonstrations demanding the release of an imprisoned comrade. On May 20, the conflict escalated sharply when a prominent Sunni mulla, Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahid was killed by a roadblock controlled by the army. The conflict immediately spread to Beirut. In an effort to reduce tensions, the army arrested the 22 soldiers who had been present at the roadblock. Hezbollah condoled against the Sunni storms and a number of prominent Salafists were released. Still, the confrontations continued. 41 were killed through May and June. Alone on 2-3. On June 15, 15 people were killed in Tripoli and in the same month the confrontations spread to a number of Palestinian refugee camps and to southern Lebanon, which is traditionally Hezbollah. Salafists went into demonstration against Hezbollah’s overwhelming weapons power.

In October 2012, a violent bomb attack was carried out in Beirut. Apparently targeting the country’s intelligence chief, Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed along with 5 others. The attack immediately sparked fights between the various political groups in the country. The Western world immediately accused Syria of being behind the attack. However, it had no explanation for what interest the strongly-pressured Assad regime should have in whipping up a fierce anti-Syrian sentiment in its neighboring country. Other observers pointed to Israel as the likely backbone of the bomb. It was al-Hassan who in 2009 had revealed and rolled out an extensive Israeli spy network in Lebanon. Mossad therefore had a great motive to say thank you lately. Israel has a long historical tradition of conducting violent assaults on its opponents abroad. Finally, the attack could support the Western world’s desire for military intervention against Syria.

Prime Minister Mikati resigned from the post in March 2013 following mounting tensions in the country between supporters and opponents of Syria’s Assad. The president instead appointed Tammam Salam to head a new assembly government. Also, the March 14 Movement supported him in this. Government formation took 11 months. In February 2014, Salam was able to present its new government.

In April, Syrian opposition groups sent mortar grenades down a Shiite village in the northern part of the Bekaa Valley. Two were killed and three injured.

In Tripoli, battles between Sunnis and Shiites flared up again in May 2013. The battlefield was especially the Shia-dominated Jabal Mohsen district and the Sunni-dominated Bab al-Tabbaneh. 28 were killed and hundreds injured. In October, bitter battles returned, resulting in 13 kills and 91 wounded. On October 28, the army entered both districts and stopped fighting. Already on November 30, new matches came. Also in the southern city of Saida there was bloody fighting in June between the army and armed Sunnis who supported the rebellion in Syria. 18 soldiers and 28 armed Sunnis were killed.

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