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The Phoenicians
spoke the Phoenecian language, later called Punic
since the Roman word for purple was Puniceus.
In addition to their many inscriptions, the Phoenicians,
contrary to some reports, wrote many books that
have not survived. Evangelical Preparation by
Eusebius of Caesarea quotes extensively from Philo
of Byblos and Sanchuniathon. Furthermore, the
Phoenician Punic colonies of North Africa continued
to be a source of knowledge about the Phoenicians.
Saint Augustine knew at least a smattering of
Punic and occasionally uses it to explain cognate
words found in Hebrew. The name of his mother,
Saint Monica, is said to be of Punic origin as
well. The region was a territory of the Roman
Empire in the province of Syria and during the
Middle Ages was important in the Crusades. It
was later taken by the Ottoman Empire.
Following
the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World
War I, the League of Nations mandated the five
provinces of present-day Lebanon to France.
Lebanon's
modern constitution, drawn up in 1926, specified
a balance of political power among the major religious
groups.
The country
gained independence in 1943, and French troops
withdrew in 1946. Lebanon's history from independence
has been marked by alternating periods of political
stability and turmoil (including a civil conflict
in 1958) interspersed with prosperity built on
Beirut's position as a regional center for finance
and trade.
The 1975-1990
war
Until the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War,
Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was noted for
its wide boulevards, French-style architecture,
and modernity, and was called "the Paris
of the Middle East." Lebanon as a whole was
known as the Switzerland of the Middle East (Swisra
Ash Shark), enjoying a similar conflict-free status
as Costa Rica in Central America and (until recently)
Uruguay in South America. The term "Civil
War" is not adequate due to the complexity
and foreign (Iranian-Israeli-Palestenian-Syrian)
military forces role in the 1975-1990 war.
On May 22,
2000, Israel unilaterally completed its withdrawal
from the south of Lebanon in accordance with UN
Security Council Resolution 425 of 1978. On September
2 2004, the United Nations Security Council, recalling
previous resolutions, especially 425 (1978), 520
(1982) and 1553 (July 2004), approved Resolution
1559, sponsored by the US and France, demanding
that Syria, though not mentioned by name, should
withdraw its troops from Lebanon. "All foreign
forces should withdraw from Lebanon" to allow
free elections. The enactors of the Taif agreement
however did not enact the clause asking the Syrian
occupation to withdraw from Lebanon, or heed the
UN Security Council's decision. The Lebanese patriotic
movement has intensively lobbied for the withdrawal
of the Syrian army from Lebanon since 1989, in
governments throughout the western world. This
withdrawal was catalyzed in its final stage by
the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri in
2005.
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