Lebanon, a nation that once proudly called itself the Switzerland of the Middle
East, is today a country in name only. Its government controls little more than
half of the nation's capital, Beirut. Its once-vibrant economy is a shambles.
And its society is fragmented - so fragmented, some believe, that it may be
impossible to re-create a unified state responsive to the needs of all its
Lebanon lies on the eastern shore of the Mediterranea n Sea, in that part of
southwestern Asia known as the Middle East. Because of its location - at the
crossroads of Asia, Europe, and Africa - Lebanon has been the center of commerce
and trade for thousands of years. It has also been on the route of numerous
With an area of 4,015 square miles, Lebanon is one of the smallest countries in
the Middle East. It is smaller than every state in the United States except
Delaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Lebanon is sandwiched between Syria in
the north and east and Israel in the south. The maximum distance from the
nation's northern border to the southern one is only 130 miles. And the maximum
distance from the Mediterranean Sea to the Lebanon-Syria border is 50 miles. In
the south, along the border with Israel, Lebanon's eastern border is only 20
Although a tiny land, Lebanon boasts a great diversity in its landscape which
makes it one of the most picturesque countries in the world. The coast line is
br oken by many bays and inlets of varying size. At some points, the mountains
wade silently right into the sea - then climb suddenly tier on tier away from
the Mediterranean to the sky. Because of the limitation of flat agricultural
land, all but the steepest hillsides have been patiently and neatly terraced and
planted with garlands of twisted grapevines. The mountains lend a great variety
of hues - pale pink, rosy red, forest green or deep pu
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