Lebanon

Flag of Lebanon

**Lebanon** is a country in the Middle East, situated in the Levant. Lebanon is bordered by Israel to the South, Syria to the east, and Cilicia to the north.

Lebanon was created in the 1920s, alongside Israel, to be one of the two "minority-majority" states in the Middle East, with Lebanon acting as a new homeland for the Arab Christians of the Middle East. As the two states were carved out of France's colonial territory of Outremer, the countries became known by the nickname of "Les Enfants Terribles" by detractors of their existence.

As a holdover from French colonialism, Lebanon first existed as a "special administrative territory" alongside French Palestine, being separated from Outremer in 1922. When the two were granted full independence in 1929, both countries were highly influenced by French governance, with Lebanese and Israeli law being largely copied wholesale from French Law, French being the de-facto language of administration, and the area largely still being protected by the French military.

In 1935, the reigning president, Charles Abdoulyasou, largely turned control over from the constitution towards the high Christian clergy of the Maronite Church. Specifically, the Bishop of Lebanon became a high ranking member of the legislation. French involvement with the country largely began to fade away, and by the late 30s to early 40s, the French were reduced to merely military allies. Abdoulyasou abolished French as an official language in Lebanon, and began a program of "re-christianization" to bring what he called a society "made immoral and decadent by French depravity" up to strict Christian ethics and morals. He banned all "western materials and ideas", such as prohibiting western style clothing, music, and literature, and outlawing all political parties with a "western ideology", such as the Communist Party of Lebanon. Abdoulyasou largely abolished the republican system, reducing it to a purely ceremonial function, with himself and his council of clergy acting as the true government of Lebanon.

In 1947, the Levantine Wars broke out, with Syria and Egypt both trying to conquer Lebanon and Israel to disband what they saw as relics of colonialism. In 1952, the Levantine Popular Front (الجبهة الشعبية المشرقية), joined in the war with an alliance with the Jewish People's Army (צבא העם היהודי) to establish communist states in Lebanon and Israel. The Levantine Wars were seen as a sort of precursor to the Red Wars, which broke out full force in 1955, when France declared war on Italy for supporting the LPF and JPA. Lebanon had managed to get Cilicia and Armenia involved in the war against Syria, and managed to survive along with Israel. Charles Abdoulyasou died on January 23, 1967, with his successor, Rachid Chamoun, beginning to overturn the theocratic principles of his predecessor. Notably, he limited the influence that the Church of Lebanon had in politics, and limited himself to 10 years of rule, divided into two 5 year terms. Chamoun undid all bans on western clothing and influences, and reinstated the republic system, and scheduled elections for his successor in 1978. Chamoun was, however, unable to fully cut the power of the Christian Church in Lebanon, and as such, his propositions to introduce workplace and housing protections for Muslims and Jews, abolish punishments for "sexual immorality" (pre-marital sex, homosexuality, adultery, etc,), remove special taxes on unmarried adults and adults without children, establish workplace and wage equality for female employees, and abolish life imprisonment for those who left Christianity, were all rejected and were unable to be implemented until after his term was up. These would be implemented much later in the 80s under the 5th President of Lebanon, Botros Abdoulmasoun.

In 2015, Lebanon exists in a precarious position, being largely hated by its neighbors, save for its Christian neighbors of Armenia and Cilicia, and being seen as a despotic, but healing nation scared by fundamentalism. The descent of Lebanon into Christian Fundamentalism was seen by many to be an omen for other countries that were built and established by western imperial powers, understanding that states like Quebec and Israel were largely the exceptions.