Lebanon
Mountains and Mediterranean, a mosaic of faiths
Lebanon is a small, mountainous country on the eastern Mediterranean, famed for its cedar forests, its cosmopolitan capital, and a delicate mosaic of religious communities packed into a sliver of coast and highland. Once celebrated as the Switzerland of the Middle East and a Paris of the East in Beirut, it has endured civil war, occupation, and economic collapse while retaining a vibrant culture, a storied cuisine, and a far-flung diaspora that outnumbers the resident population.
Two parallel mountain ranges define the country, the snow-capped Mount Lebanon range rising steeply from the coast to Qurnat as Sawda, and the Anti-Lebanon along the Syrian border, with the fertile Bekaa Valley between them. The climate is Mediterranean, with snow on the heights and citrus on the coast. Banking, tourism, services, and remittances historically drove the economy, which has been gutted by a severe financial crisis since 2019.
Phoenician city-states, Roman temples at Baalbek, and centuries of Ottoman rule preceded a French mandate and independence in 1943, under a power-sharing system dividing offices among religious sects. A devastating civil war from 1975 to 1990, Syrian and Israeli interventions, and the rise of Hezbollah have marked recent decades, alongside a catastrophic 2020 port explosion in Beirut. The capital, Beirut, remains the cultural and commercial heart of a fragile state.