Lebanon 2004

Lebanon People

Yearbook 2004

Lebanon. According to CountryAAH, the total population in Lebanon is 6,825,456 people in 2020. The country’s political establishment was split during the fall by a political crisis surrounding neighboring Syria’s influence. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 on 2 September, requiring “foreign forces” to leave Lebanon. The rewrite was aimed at Syria, which had over 14,000 soldiers in the country. The resolution, tabled by the United States and France and adopted by the lowest possible margin, also called for the Lebanese presidential election scheduled for November to be held in accordance with the constitution.

Syrian-friendly President Emile Lahoud’s six-year term expired and, according to the constitution, he could not run for re-election. On September 3, after pressure from Syria, Lebanon’s parliament voted for a constitutional amendment that extended Lahoud’s current term of office by another three years. Many Lebanese politicians were critical. Following Parliament’s decision, four ministers left the government and on October 20, Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri filed his resignation, citing the division of opinion within the country. Rafiq al-Hariri, a businessman and billionaire, had ruled Lebanon for most of the time since the end of the civil war in 1990. Despite the country wrestling with a large government debt, he had managed to attract foreign investors to help build the war-damaged capital.

The government said on September 22, in cooperation with Syria and Italy, to have arrested ten militant Islamists with links to the al-Qaeda terror network. The arrested suspects have planned terrorist acts against, among other things. Embassy of Italy in Beirut. According to Lebanese authorities, it was the first time members of al-Qaeda were arrested in Lebanon. One of the arrested, Ismail Muhammad al-Khatib, died a few days later in the cell, according to police of a heart attack. His death caused violent protests in eastern Lebanon. According to abbreviationfinder, LE stands for Lebanon in text.

After prolonged negotiations, reportedly among other things. under the auspices of the German intelligence service, Israel and the Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas carried out a long-awaited prisoner exchange at the end of January. Israel released 429 prisoners, most of them Lebanese and Palestinians, and also surrendered 59 dead Hizbullah members. The guerrillas released an Israeli reservist and surrendered three dead Israeli soldiers. Despite the prisoner exchange, the situation remained tense at the border between L. and Israel for the rest of the year. One of Hizbullah’s leaders, Ghalib Awwali, was killed by a car bomb in Beirut on July 19. Israel denied involvement in the attack.

At least five people were killed and 15 injured in Beirut on May 27, when soldiers were deployed against protesters who, at the urging of the country’s trade union federation, demanded reduced fuel prices.

In July 2013, a Syrian opposition group conducted a car bomb attack in the predominantly Shiite Beir al-Abed district of Beirut. 70 were killed and hundreds injured. At the end of August, two car bombs rang out in a Sunni suburb. 40 were killed and 400 injured.

By the end of September 2013, UNHCR had registered 816,000 Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The country was then the only neighboring country to Syria that still had open borders for the refugees. Refugees were given a 6-month residence permit upon entry, which could then be extended once. Additional extension cost US $ 200 per walk. Refugees who were not allowed to renew their permits were considered illegal and risked deportation. Already in August, the Lebanese border guards began to arbitrarily reject Palestinian refugees. More than 60,000 Palestinian refugees had already entered the country and had joined the 300,000 who were already there.

In late December, 32 Syrian Islamist rebels were killed in an ambush by Hezbollah in Wadi al-Jamala as they tried to infiltrate Lebanon from Syria.

President Michel Suleiman’s tenure expired in May 2014, but parliament could not agree on his successor. Prime Minister Salam has since served as president. Parliamentary elections should have been held in 2014, but due to the political and security crisis in the country and Parliament’s inability to appoint a new president, the election was postponed to 2017.

In August 2014, for the first time, the war in Syria swept right over the border with Lebanon. On August 2, Border Police Imad Ahmed Jumaa detained in Ansal on the Lebanon-Syria border. The Lebanese initially thought he was a member of the al-Nusra front, but it turned out he was the leader of the Fajr al-Islam brigade, which in July had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS). Both Fajr al-Islam, IS and the al-Nusra front now crossed the border, attacking border police and security forces. The fighting raged a week before the Lebanese army gained control of the city following an agreed ceasefire with the Syrian Islamists. 59 civilians, 67 Syrian rebels and 19 Lebanese soldiers were killed. At the same time, the Islamists had captured at least 35 Lebanese soldiers and police. One of these, Sergeant Ali al-Sayed turned 28. August beheaded and a video of it published. Thirteen of the hostages were subsequently released, but the Islamists demanded arrested Syrian Islamists in Roumieh released as a condition to release the rest. The Libyan government refused and the hostage drama continued. In November, Islamists threatened to kill a hostage daily. On September 6, IS soldier executed Abbas Medlej.

Following the attack on Ansal and the hostage-taking of Lebanese soldiers, civilian Lebanese attacked Syrian refugees with knives or firearms. Almost always without the authorities intervening. The situation was already devastating in the country, with many poor Lebanese complaining that the even inferior Syrian refugees are taking their jobs. The already chaotic refugee situation was therefore developing into another conflict – between the Lebanese Lumpen proletariat and refugees.

Lebanon People