Lebanon

• separated from Israel by the 1949 Armistice Line;
• Israeli troops in southern Lebanon since June 1982;
• Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern Lebanon since October 1976

• Mediterranean;
• mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers;
• Lebanon mountains experience heavy winter snows

arable land:

21%

permanent crops:

9%

meadows and pastures:

1%

forest and woodland:

8%

other:

61%

current issues:

• deforestation;
• soil erosion;
• desertification;
• air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes;
• pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills

natural hazards:

duststorms, sandstorms

international agreements:

• party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution;
• signed, but not ratified - Desertification, Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation

• Nahr al Litani only major river in Near East not crossing an international boundary;
• rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity

0-14 years:

36% (female 657,403; male 682,757)

15-64 years:

58% (female 1,131,450; male 1,016,859)

65 years and over:

6% (female 111,585; male 95,867) (July 1995 est.)

noun:

Lebanese (singular and plural)

adjective:

Lebanese

conventional long form:

Republic of Lebanon

conventional short form:

Lebanon

local long form:

Al Jumhuriyah al Lubnaniyah

local short form:

none

• mixture of Ottoman law, canon law, Napoleonic code, and civil law;
• no judicial review of legislative acts;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

• 21 years of age;
• compulsory for all males;
• authorized for women at age 21 with elementary education

chief of state:

• President Ilyas HARAWI (since 24 November 1989);
• note - by custom, the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of the legislature is a Shi'a Muslim

head of government:

Prime Minister Rafiq HARIRI (since 22 October 1992)

cabinet:

Cabinet; chosen by the president in consultation with the members of the National Assembly

• (Arabic - Majlis Alnuwab, French - Assemblee Nationale) Lebanon's first legislative election in 20 years was held in the summer of 1992;
• the National Assembly is composed of 128 deputies, one-half Christian and one-half Muslim;
• its mandate expires in 1996

• political party activity is organized along largely sectarian lines;
• numerous political groupings exist, consisting of individual political figures and followers motivated by religious, clan, and economic considerations

chief of mission:

Ambassador Riyad TABBARAH

chancery:

2560 28th Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 939-6300

chief of mission:

(vacant)

embassy:

Antelias, Beirut

address:

• P. O. Box 70-840, Beirut;
• PSC 815, Box 2, Beirut;
• FPO AE 09836-0002

telephone:

[961] (1) 402200, 403300, 416502, 426183, 417774

• illicit producer of hashish and heroin for the international drug trade;
• hashish production is shipped to Western Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America;
• increasingly a key locus of cocaine processing and trafficking;
• a Lebanese/Syrian 1994 eradication campaign eliminated the opium crop and caused a 50% decrease in the cannabis crop

total:

222 km

standard gauge:

222 km 1.435-m

note: system in disrepair, considered inoperable

total:

7,300 km

paved:

6,200 km

unpaved:

gravel 450 km; improved earth 650 km

total:

64 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 260,383 GRT/381,937 DWT

ships by type:

bulk 4, cargo 41, chemical tanker 1, combination bulk 1, combination ore/oil 1, container 2, livestock carrier 6, refrigerated cargo 3, roll-on/roll-off cargo 2, specialized tanker 1, vehicle carrier 2

• 325,000 telephones;
• 95 telephones/1,000 persons;
• telecommunications system severely damaged by civil war;
• rebuilding still underway

local:

NA

intercity:

primarily microwave radio relay and cable

international:

• 2 INTELSAT (1 Indian Ocean and 1 Atlantic Ocean) earth stations (erratic operations);
• coaxial cable to Syria;
• microwave radio relay to Syria but inoperable beyond Syria to Jordan;
• 3 submarine coaxial cables

broadcast stations:

AM 5, FM 3, shortwave 0; note - numerous AM and FM stations are operated sporadically by various factions

radios:

NA

broadcast stations:

13

televisions:

NA