1.
Lebanese Armed Forces
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The Lebanese Armed Forces or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the Lebanese Army according to its official website, is the military of the Lebanese Republic. It consists of three branches, the army, the air force and the navy, the motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is Honor, Sacrifice, Loyalty. The armed forces consist of 87,000 active personnel with the ground consisting of approximately 80,000 troops. The remaining personnel are commanders, advisors, engineers and members of the special forces, the country has six military colleges and schools. Lebanese officers are sent to countries such as the US. The equipment of the LAF is outdated due to lack of funds, political bickering and until the 2000s, the Lebanese government is working with its partners to improve the armed forces capabilities. After the conclusion of the Lebanese Civil War, the LAF decided to repair as much of its equipment as it could, about 85% of the LAFs equipment is American-made, with the remaining being British, French, and Soviet-made. The Lebanese Army finds its original roots in the armed forces that were first formed under Prince Fakher el-Din II the Great in the early 17th-century during the Principality of Lebanon. The first major victory came on October 31,1622 against the Ottoman Empire Army under the lead of the Pasha of Damascus in the Battle of Majdel Anjar. Outnumbered, Fakher el-Din was nevertheless victorious and was able to capture the Pasha of Damascus himself and takeover Syria, Galilee, during the period of the semi-autonomous province period of Mount Lebanon between 1861 and 1914, no Turkish troops were allowed to station within its boundary. The beginnings of the modern Lebanese Army arose during 1916, when the French government established the Legion of the Orient, which included Lebanese soldiers. After a post World War I League of Nations mandate was established over Lebanon in April 1920, France formed the Army of the Levant, which was later reorganized into the Troupes Spéciales du Levant. Later in 1926, the Lebanese First Sharp Shooters Unit was created out of the Special Troops of the Levant, during World War II, Lebanese troops fought in Lebanon with the Vichy French forces against Free French and British forces. In 1943, prior to the declaration of Lebanese independence, all the units were combined in one brigade. On the day Lebanon declared independence, the Lebanese Third Sharp Shooters Regiment was placed at the disposal of the Lebanese government in order to maintain security. In June of the year, the French reconstituted units of the Troupes Spéciales du Levant. The majority of the Lebanese Armed Forces remained a part of the French Army in Lebanon, after gaining independence in 1943, the Lebanese government formed an official delegation in 1944 to negotiate with the French the terms related to handing over the LAF. After nearly three weeks of talks, the joint French-British Command decreed that responsibility for armed units under French control were to be handed over to the Independent Government of Lebanon and these units were part of the Troupes Spéciales du Levant and totaled about 3,000 men
2.
Lebanese Air Force
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The Lebanese Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The seal of the air force is a Roundel with two wings and a Lebanese Cedar tree, surrounded by two leaves on a blue background. The Lebanese Air Force were established in 1949 under the command of then-Lieutenant Colonel Emile Boustany who later became commander of the army, soon after its establishment, a number of aircraft were donated by the British, French, and Italian governments. Britain donated 4 Percival Prentices and 2 World War II-era Percival Proctors, in 1953, jet fighters were introduced when 16 de Havilland Vampire jets were received. The first Hawker Hunters arrived in 1959 and were followed by additional fighters through 1977, in 1968,12 Mirage IIIELs were delivered from France but were grounded in the late 1970s due to lack of funds. In 2000, the grounded Mirages were sold to Pakistan, the air force, in the absence of advanced fixed wing aircraft, currently relies on a helicopter force and Cessna AC208 for reconnaissance and attack. The Lebanese Air Force consists of nine squadrons distributed between four air bases, the Lebanese Air Forces have a long history operating Hawker Hunter jets since 1958. A Lebanese Hawker Hunter shot down an Israeli jet over Kfirmishki in the early 1960s, one Lebanese Hawker Hunter was shot down on the first day of the Six-Day War by an Israeli Air Force Mirage IIICJ. The Hawker Hunters have not flown any combat sorties since September 17,1983 and this was at a time when the French and Americans were rebuilding the Lebanese Army. Three F. Mk. 70s were made airworthy, and resumed operations on September 15. Because the main airfield, Rayak Air Base, had been shelled by Syrian forces, the Hunters were finally grounded in 1994 after a minor accident with one of the T.66 trainers during landing and the remaining 8 were stored in Rayak. The last loss took place in 1989 near Batroun during routine training, special mounting pads engineered by the Lebanese Army were attached to each Huey on the sides and belly to carry the bombs. The air force, in collaboration with the regiment, developed and used two dumb bomb variants, the 250 kg LAF-GS-ER2 and the 400 kg LAF-GS-ER3. Usually, helicopters cannot bomb using this method, in comparison to ground attack aircraft, the Lebanese Army also made extensive use of Aérospatiale Gazelles armed with Euromissile HOT anti-tank guided missiles and machine gun pods. Includes Lebanese army special forces school, fourteenth Squadron Employs, UH-1H The helicopters of this squadron are on loan from the squadrons at Kleyate Air Base. Fifteenth Squadron Employs, Robinson Raven R44 II and scottish bulldog The squadron is part of the Aviation School, sixteenth Squadron Employs, Sikorsky S-61N MkII In November 2015, the air force placed an order for 6 Embraer Super Tucano turboprops. 15 Huey II still to deliver, from an order for 18 Huey II helicopters, approved by the US Department of State in September 2014
3.
Lebanese Navy
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The Lebanese Navy, literally the Lebanese Sea Forces is the Navy of the Lebanese Armed Forces. It was formed in 1950 and based in Beirut Naval Base, the flag of the Lebanese navy depicts a Phoenician ship with the Lebanese Cedar tree, positioned on an anchor above the Arabic inscription of the navys name. For the reason that, Lebanese navy do not recruit specialized officers with a diploma in the maritime field. The skills of the Lebanese Naval Forces are not incredibly diverse or necessarily advanced to the level of European countries due to their human resources. Lebanese Navy undergoes difficulties in accomplishing its enduring roles in maritime safety, security, on February 19,2015 the Saudi press agency quoted on a Saudi official, that Saudi Arabia halted the $3 billion program for military supplies to Lebanon. Also, Lebanon intends to provide protection for the natural gas installations and enforce the law. Lebanon count on the US military aid to be equipped with a vessel with a wide range of capabilities such as the RiverHawk OSV60. The Lebanese Navy is in charge of the radar stations, in 1992, three stations in all of Tripoli, Sidon, and Tyre were established, followed by upgrades. However, during the 2006 Lebanon War all of the stations were bombed by the Israeli Navy, three of these stations are older and were refurbished with new equipment and facilities, the four other are new installations. The Lebanese Naval Forces send nearly all of their Navy officers for training abroad in a variety of European countries as well as the United States, each country offers different training depending on the specializations of each officer. Officers sent to the United States have undergone schooling in surface warfare, many Lebanese Naval Forces Engineers head to France where they receive education regarding detection, transmission, and artillery. Skills used in much of the duties of the Lebanese Naval Forces from initial staff courses, amphibious training. The skills of the Lebanese Naval Forces are not incredibly diverse or necessarily advanced to the level of European countries due to their human resources. The existence of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force is helping the Lebanese Navy to enhance the skills of its personnel through the joint exercises. Admiral Émile Lahoud who was elected the President of Lebanon in 1998
4.
Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
7.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
8.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
9.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
10.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
11.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
12.
Army of the Levant
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In September 1919, Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau entered an agreement to replace the British troops occupying Cilicia by a French force. First elements of new army came from the former 156ème division d’infanterie of the Allied Army of the Orient. In 1920 this division became the first of four divisions du Levant, in 1920, the French were given a mandate over Syria and Lebanon by the League of Nations. During this period Syria was known as the French Mandate of Syria, from 19 April to 26 April 1920 the San Remo Conference was held in Sanremo, Italy. The French army under General Henri Gouraud then occupied the Mandate of Syria, a force called the Syrian Legion was raised by the French authorities shortly after the establishment of the two mandates. This comprised both cavalry and infantry units and was mainly from minority groups within Syria itself. The whole force constituted the Army of the Levant and was responsible for keeping order in both French mandates during the interwar period, the French Mandate Administration followed a principle of divide and rule in organising the Troupes Speciales. In addition, there were 9 companies of Lebanese light infantry and 22 squadrons of Druze, Circassian and this latter force provided a form of military police for internal security purposes and were primarily deployed in the areas of their recruitment. Some of the Lebanese units were trained as ski troops for mountain service, by 1938, the Troupes Speciales numbered 10,000, with 306 officers of whom only 88 were French. A military academy was established at Homs to train Syrian and Lebanese officers, uniforms of the Troupes Speciales varied according to arm of service but showed a mixture of French and Levantine influences. Indigenous personnel wore either the keffiyeh headdress, fezzes or turbans, the Circassian mounted troops wore a black full dress that closely resembled that of the Caucasian Cossacks, complete with astrakhan hats. A common feature across the Troupes Speciales was the use of violette as a colour on tunic collar patches, belts. Squadron or branch insignia often included regional landmarks such as the cedars of Lebanon or the mosque of Damascus. On 22 June, after the Fall of France, the forces in the Levant sided with the Vichy Government of Marshal Philippe Pétain, in 1941, British Commonwealth, Free French and other Allied forces launched Operation Exporter, the Syria-Lebanon Campaign. They attacked the Army of the Levant from the British Mandate of Palestine and from the Kingdom of Iraq, on 8 June 1941 at 2 am, British, Australian, and Free French forces crossed into Syria and Lebanon. During Operation Exporter, the Army of the Levant was commanded by General Henri Dentz, Dentz was also the High Commissioner of the Levant. Lieutenant-General Joseph-Antoine-Sylvain-Raoul de Verdillac was second in command at the time of the British invasion, in 1941 the Army of the Levant was still divided into troops from Metropolitan France, colonial troops, and the Special Troops of the Levant. The regular French troops consisted of four battalions of the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment, the latter were brought up to strength by amalgamating them with two garrison battalions of Senegalese troops to form the Mixed Colonial Regiment
13.
Free France
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It was set up in London in June 1940 and also organised and supported the Resistance in occupied France. On 27 October 1940, the Empire Defense Council was constituted to organise the rule of the territories in central Africa and it was replaced on 24 September 1941 by the French National Committee. After the reconquest of North Africa, this was in turn merged with de Gaulles rival general Henri Girauds command in Algiers to form the French Committee of National Liberation. Exile officially ended with the capture of Paris by the 2nd Armoured Free French Division and Resistance forces on 25 August 1944, the Free French fought Axis and Vichy regime troops and served on battlefronts everywhere from the Middle East to Indochina and North Africa. The Free French Navy operated as a force to the Royal Navy and, in the North Atlantic. Free French units also served in the Royal Air Force, Soviet Air Force, the French Army of Africa switched allegiance to Free France, and this caused the Axis to occupy Vichy in reaction. On 1 August 1943, LArmée dAfrique was formally united with the Free French Forces to form LArmée française de la Liberation. By mid-1944, the forces of this army numbered more than 400,000, and they participated in the Normandy landings, the Free French government re-established a provisional republic after the liberation, preparing the ground for the Fourth Republic in 1946. Historically, an individual became Free French by enlisting in the military units organised by the CFN or by employment by the arm of the Committee. In many sources, Free French describes any French individual or unit that fought against Axis forces after the June 1940 armistice, postwar, to settle disputes over the Free French heritage, the French government issued an official definition of the term. Under this ministerial instruction of July 1953, only those who served with the Allies after the Franco-German armistice in 1940, between 27 May and 4 June, around 200,000 British soldiers and 140,000 French troops were evacuated from the beaches to safety in England. General Charles de Gaulle was a minister in the French cabinet during the Battle of France, as France was overwhelmed by the stunning German victory, he found himself part of a small group of politicians who argued against a negotiated surrender to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. That same day, the new French President of the Council, former First World War Marshal Philippe Pétain, De Gaulle briefly travelled to Bordeaux to continue the fight but, realising that Pétain would surrender, he returned to London on 17 June. On 18 June, General de Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio, urging French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis and she has a great empire behind her. Together with the British Empire, she can form a bloc that controls the seas and she may, like England, draw upon the limitless industrial resources of the United States. In Vichys case those reasons were compounded with ideas of a Révolution nationale about stamping out Frances republican heritage. On 22 June 1940, Marshall Pétain signed an armistice with Germany, followed by a one with Italy on 24 June. After a parliamentary vote on 10 July, Pétain became leader of the newly established authoritarian regime known as Vichy France, despite de Gaulles call to continue the struggle, few French forces, at least initially, pledged their support
14.
Vichy France
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Vichy France is the common name of the French State headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. In particular, it represents the southern, unoccupied Free Zone that governed the southern part of the country, from 1940 to 1942, while the Vichy regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France. Thus, while Paris remained the de jure capital of France, following the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942, southern France was also militarily occupied by Germany and Italy. The Vichy government remained in existence, but as a de facto client and it vanished in late 1944 when the Allies occupied all of France. After being appointed Premier by President Albert Lebrun, Marshal Pétain ordered the French Governments military representatives to sign an armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940, Pétain subsequently established an authoritarian regime when the National Assembly of the French Third Republic granted him full powers on 10 July 1940. At that point, the Third Republic was dissolved, calling for National Regeneration, the French Government at Vichy reversed many liberal policies and began tight supervision of the economy, with central planning a key feature. Labour unions came under government control. The independence of women was reversed, with a put on motherhood. Paris lost its status in European art and culture. The media were tightly controlled and stressed virulent anti-Semitism, and, after June 1941, the French State maintained nominal sovereignty over the whole of French territory, but had effective full sovereignty only in the unoccupied southern zone libre. It had limited and only civil authority in the zones under military occupation. The occupation was to be a state of affairs, pending the conclusion of the war. The French Government at Vichy never joined the Axis alliance, Germany kept two million French soldiers prisoner, carrying out forced labour. They were hostages to ensure that Vichy would reduce its forces and pay a heavy tribute in gold, food. French police were ordered to round up immigrant Jews and other such as communists. Public opinion in some quarters turned against the French government and the occupying German forces over time, when it became clear that Germany was losing the war, and resistance to them increased. Most of the legal French governments leaders at Vichy fled or were subject to show trials by the GPRF, thousands of collaborators were summarily executed by local communists and the Resistance in so-called savage purges. The last of the French State exiles were captured in the Sigmaringen enclave by de Gaulles French 1st Armoured Division in April 1945, in 1940, Marshal Pétain was known as a First World War hero, the victor of the battle of Verdun
15.
French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon
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The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a League of Nations mandate founded after the First World War and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire concerning Syria and the Lebanon. The mandate system was supposed to differ from colonialism, with the country acting as a trustee until the inhabitants would be able to stand on their own. At that point, the mandate would terminate and an independent state would be born, Hatay was annexed by Turkey in 1939. The French mandate lasted until 1943, when two independent countries emerged, Syria and Lebanon, French troops completely left Syria and Lebanon in 1946. Faisal established the first new postwar Arab government in Damascus in October 1918, the new Arab administration formed local governments in the major Syrian cities, and the pan-Arab flag was raised all over Syria. The Arabs hoped, with faith in earlier British promises, that the new Arab state would all the Arab lands stretching from Aleppo in northern Syria to Aden in southern Yemen. However, in accordance with the secret Sykes–Picot Agreement between Britain and France, General Allenby assigned to the Arab administration only the regions of Syria. Palestine was reserved for the British, on 8 October, French troops disembarked in Beirut and occupied the Lebanese coastal region south to Naqoura, replacing British troops there. The French immediately dissolved the local Arab governments in the region, France demanded full implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, with Syria under its control. On 26 November 1919, British forces withdrew from Damascus to avoid confrontation with the French, Faisal had traveled several times to Europe, since November 1918, trying to convince France and Britain to change their positions, but without success. Frances determination to intervene in Syria was shown by the naming of General Henri Gouraud as high commissioner in Syria and Cilicia, at the Paris Peace Conference, Faisal found himself in an even weaker position when the European powers decided to ignore the Arab demands. In May 1919, elections were held for the Syrian National Congress, 80% of seats went to conservatives. However, the minority included dynamic Arab nationalist figures such as Jamil Mardam Bey, Shukri al-Kuwatli, Ahmad al-Qadri, Ibrahim Hanano, the head was moderate nationalist Hashim al-Atassi. In June 1919, the American King–Crane Commission arrived in Syria to inquire into local public opinion about the future of the country, the commissions remit extended from Aleppo to Beersheba. They visited 36 major cities, met more than 2,000 delegations from more than 300 villages. Their conclusions confirmed the opposition of Syrians to the mandate in their country as well as to the Balfour Declaration, the conclusions of the commission were rejected by France and ignored by Britain. Unrest erupted in Syria when Faisal accepted a compromise with French Prime Minister Clemenceau, anti-Hashemite demonstrations broke out, and Muslim inhabitants in and around Mount Lebanon revolted in fear of being incorporated into a new, mainly Christian, state of Greater Lebanon. A part of Frances claim to territories in the Levant was that France was a protector of the minority Christian communities
16.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
17.
1958 Lebanon crisis
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The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a U. S. military intervention. The intervention lasted around three months until President Camille Chamoun, who had requested the assistance, completed his term as president of Lebanon, American and Lebanese government forces successfully occupied the port and international airport of Beirut. With the crisis over, the United States withdrew, in July 1958, Lebanon was threatened by a civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslims. These tensions were further increased when Chamoun showed closeness to the Baghdad Pact, Nasser felt that the pro-western Baghdad Pact posed a threat to Arab nationalism. As a response, Egypt and Syria united into the United Arab Republic, Lebanese Sunni Prime Minister Rashid Karami supported Nasser in 1956 and 1958. Karami formed a national government after the 1958 crisis ended. Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic, a Muslim rebellion that was allegedly supplied with arms by the UAR through Syria caused President Chamoun to complain to the United Nations Security Council. The United Nations sent a group of inspectors that reported that it didnt find any evidence of significant intervention from the UAR, the toppling of a pro-Western government in Iraqs 14 July Revolution, along with the internal instability, caused President Chamoun to call for American assistance. U. S. President Eisenhower responded by authorizing Operation Blue Bat on July 15,1958 and this was the first application of the Eisenhower Doctrine under which the U. S. announced that it would intervene to protect regimes it considered threatened by international communism. The goal of the operation was to bolster the pro-Western Lebanese government of President Camille Chamoun against internal opposition and threats from Syria and Egypt. The plan was to occupy and secure the Beirut International Airport, at the end of June Essex and Boston were anchored at Piraeus, Greece, while Des Moines, from which Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown was flying his flag, was at Villefranche-sur-Mer. Land forces included the 2nd Provisional Marine Force and the Army Task Force 201 at the tactical level. On July 16,1958, Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr. CINCNELM and CINCSPECCOMME, flew in from London to Beirut airport and boarded USS Taconic, the U. S. withdrew its forces on October 25,1958. President Eisenhower sent diplomat Robert D. Murphy to Lebanon as his personal representative, multinational Force in Lebanon Lebanese Civil War Mountain War Mohammed Shafi Agwani, The Lebanese Crisis,1958, A Documentary Study,1965. Erika G. Alin, The United States and the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, pierrick el Gammal, Politique intérieure et politique extérieure au Liban de 1958 à1961 de Camille Chamoun à Fouad Chehab, Sorbonne University,1991. Irene L. Gendzier, Notes from the Minefield, United States Intervention in Lebanon, Intervention in Lebanon, 1958–1982, presidential decisionmaking,1991. Nawaf Salam, L’insurrection de 1958 au Liban, Sorbonne University,1979, United States Army Center of Military History. Historical Manuscript Collection 2–3.7 AC. F Tab D. Archived from the original on 12 June 2010, the Lebanese Crisis of 1958, The Risks of Inflated Self-Importance
18.
War over Water (Jordan river)
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The 1949 Armistice Agreements which followed the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, created three demilitarized zones on the Israel-Syria border. The southernmost, and also the largest, stretched from the part of the Sea of Galilee eastwards to the Yarmuk River where the borders of Israel, Jordan. The issue of water sharing from the Jordan–Yarmuk system turned out to be a problem between Israel, Syria and Jordan. Small scale water-related skirmishes had occurred following the 1949 agreements, in July 1953, Israel began construction of an intake for its National Water Carrier at the Daughters of Jacob Jordan Bridge in the demilitarized zone north of the Sea of Galilee. Syrian artillery units opened fire on the construction site, the United Nations security council majority voted for the resumption of work by Israel. The Israelis then moved the intake to an inferior site at the Sea of Galilee. According to most observers, including Johnston himself, the Arab non-adoption of the plan was not total rejection, while they failed to approve it politically, yet they seemed determined to adhere to the technical details of the agreement. Moreover, it continued to be taken seriously by Arab leaders, though the Unified Plan failed to be ratified, both Jordan and Israel undertook to operate within their allocation limits. Israel completed its National Water Carrier project, which siphoned water from the Sea of Galilee in 1964, the initial diversion capacity of the National Water Carrier, without supplementary booster pumps, was 320 million m3, well within the limits of the Johnston Plan. Nevertheless, the Arab states were not prepared to coexist with a project which seemed likely to make a contribution to Israel economic growth. In January 1964 an Arab League summit meeting convened in Cairo and decided, and Since the existence of Israel is a danger that threatens the Arab nation, the diversion of the Jordan waters by it multiplies the dangers to Arab existence. The Arab states decided to deprive Israel of 35% of the National Water Carrier capacity, the scheme was only marginally feasible, as it was technically difficult and expensive. A major escalation took place in 1964 when Israel declared it would regard such a project as an infringement on its sovereign rights, the Arab countries eventually abandoned their project. Control of water resources and Israeli military attacks against the diversion effort are considered among the factors which led to the Six-Day War in June 1967. The war is referenced in the famous US antiwar 1965 song Eve of Destruction by Barry McGuire with the line And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin, headwater Diversion Plan Water politics in the Middle East Ameri, Hussein A. Water War in the Middle East, a Looming Threat, the Use of Airpower and its Effects on the Outbreak of the Six Day War. Water and Conflict, Fresh Water Resources and International Security, Water in the Middle East Peace Process. An American in Palestine, Elwood Mead and Zionist Water Resource Planning, 1923-1936
19.
Lebanese Civil War
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The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon, lasting from 1975 to 1990 and resulting in an estimated 120,000 fatalities. As of 2012, approximately 76,000 people remain displaced within Lebanon, there was also an exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon as a result of the war. The government of Lebanon had been run under a significant influence of the elites among the Maronite Christians, however, the country had a large Muslim population and many pan-Arabist and left-wing groups opposed the pro-western government. Fighting between Maronite and Palestinian forces began in 1975, then Leftist, pan-Arabist and Muslim Lebanese groups formed an alliance with the Palestinians, during the course of the fighting, alliances shifted rapidly and unpredictably. Furthermore, foreign powers, such as Israel and Syria, became involved in the war, Peace keeping forces, such as the Multinational Force in Lebanon & UNIFIL, were also stationed in Lebanon. The 1989 Taif Agreement marked the beginning of the end of the fighting, in January 1989, a committee appointed by the Arab League began to formulate solutions to the conflict. In March 1991, parliament passed an amnesty law that all political crimes prior to its enactment. In May 1991, the militias were dissolved, with the exception of Hezbollah, religious tensions between Sunnis and Shias remained after the war. An 1860 civil war between Druze and Maronites erupted in the Ottoman Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon, which had been divided between them in 1842 and it resulted in the massacre of about 10,000 Christians and at least 6,000 Druzes. The 1860 war was considered by the Druze as a military victory, World War I was hard for the Lebanese. While the rest of the world was occupied with the World War, with the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish rule ended. France took control of the area under the French Mandate for Syria, the French created the state of Greater Lebanon as a safe haven for the Maronites, but included a large Muslim population within the borders. In 1926, Lebanon was declared a republic, and a constitution was adopted, however, the constitution was suspended in 1932. Various factions sought unity with Syria, or independence from the French, in 1934, the countrys first census was conducted. In 1936, the Maronite Phalange party was founded by Pierre Gemayel, World War II and the 1940s brought great change to Lebanon and the Middle East. Lebanon was promised independence and on 22 November 1943, during World War II, Free French troops, who had invaded Lebanon in 1941 to rid Beirut of the Vichy French forces, left the country in 1946. The Maronites assumed power over the country and economy, a parliament was created, in which both Muslims and Christians each had a set quota of seats. Accordingly, the President was to be a Maronite, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine in late 1947 led to civil war in Palestine, the end of Mandatory Palestine, and the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948
20.
Battle of the Hotels
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The Battle of the Hotels, also known as the “Hotel front”, was a subconflict within the 1975–77 phase of the Lebanese Civil War which occurred in the Minet-el-Hosn hotel district of downtown Beirut. This area was one of the first fronts of the war began in April 1975. The battle was fought for the possession of a hotel complex adjacent to the gilded Corniche seafront area on the Mediterranean. It quickly spread to areas of central Beirut. The often fierce battles that ensued were fought with heavy exchanges of rocket and artillery fire from the various hotel rooftops, situated between the Jounblatt and Minet el-Hosn quarters, the complex grouped a number of modern hotels, comprising the Holiday Inn, St. This district had been spared the effects of the ongoing conflict, during the battle, the Al-Mourabitoun reportedly committed some 200–300 fighters, even though other sources cite a higher number of 500. The majority of the buildings were defended by an even smaller number of fighters. On October 26, the fighting in Kantari between the Muslim-leftist Lebanese National Movement and Christian-rightist Lebanese Front militias spread to the Hotel district, the first hotel/restaurant to be burned down was the Austrian Myrtom House, located next to the Haigazian College in the Rue du Mexique. Customers, including three foreign diplomats, and staff were held hostage and then released, though two employees are still on the missing list. The Phalangists attempted – with little success – to silence and reduce the Murr Tower by directing small-arms fire at it from the Rizk Tower and Achrafieh. The situation deteriorated further on October 28, when an incident occurred on the steps of the Parliament House at Nejmeh Square in Christian-controlled territory. Two men were killed, one being a bodyguard of Phalange Leader Pierre Gemayel and he had been standing nearby at that moment, but was not harmed. Another ceasefire was arranged on October 31 to enable the evacuees to return to collect their belongings, a new ceasefire came into effect on November 3. Although another ceasefire was called on November 8, it began to break down ten days later as sporadic, there was, however, little activity in the Hotel district until the following month. Units of the Lebanese Army moved into the Parliament House and central post office areas, however, fighting continued on the Hotel district, as the Al-Mourabitoun, with assorted LNM allies and in conjunction with As-Saiqa, attacked the buildings occupied by the Christian militias. In this round of assaults Soviet-made RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launchers and vehicle-mounted 106mm recoilless rifles were employed in the fire support role for the first time in Lebanon. However, when the St Georges fell, the NLP Tigers simply withdrew from the seafront district, leaving the fighting to the Phalangists, pressured by the joint Army-Christian militias’ counter-offensive, Kulaylat called the PLO for help and received it. The Phoenicia and St Georges Hotels changed hands several times during the night, while the Christian militiamen repulsed the attacks on their own positions, the Gendarmes’ avoided confrontation and withdrew to the unfinished Beirut Hilton Hotel
21.
Multinational Force in Lebanon
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The ceasefire held until June 3,1982 when the PLO attempted to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israels ambassador to London. Three days later, Israel reentered the PLO-controlled West Beirut and blockaded the city in order to contain insurgency, seven weeks into the blockade, the besieged PLO acceded to a new agreement for their withdrawal. The four-nation MNF was created as an interposition force meant to oversee the withdrawal of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The participants included the U. S. Additionally, the MNF was in charge of training units of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The relatively benign environment at the beginning of the gave way to chaos as the civil war re-escalated following the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982. Subsequent political and military developments on the ground caused the MNF to be viewed not as a peacekeeper and it was replaced by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon already present in Lebanon since 1978 under the leadership of Ghanaian Lieutenant General Emmanuel Erskine. Under its mandate, the MNF provides a multinational presence requested by the Lebanese Government to assist it, the MNF is not authorized to engage in combat but may exercise the right of self-defense. The USMNF follows a policy of active self-defense in response to attacks, in order to enhance the safety of MNF personnel, authority has been given to U. S. S. The MNF is currently composed of the units, which perform the functions indicated at the request of the Lebanese Government. Their precise functions within the MNF mission have varied over time, one U. S. Marine Amphibious Unit is ashore at Beirut International Airport as a 1, 400-man force which also provides external-security troops at U. S. diplomatic facilities in the greater Beirut area. Additional elements of the MAU in reserve, mainly combat support, as noted above, U. S. military personnel currently with the MNF will remain on the ground for the protection of our remaining personnel. Two Italian battalions are in a 1, 400-man force in southwest Beirut and also protect the Sabra. The Italian Government has nearly completed the process of returning the size of its force to that level from a high of 2,200 men. The Italians announced on Feb.8 their intention to withdraw further forces, the French battalions serve as a force in and near the port of Beirut. In addition, each contingent of the MNF has naval and/or air support forces in the region, the United States had previously been involved in Lebanon during the 1958 crisis. In May 1958 armed rebellion broke out in Beirut, supported mostly by Muslim elements, Marines and paratroopers were sent to Lebanon by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to keep the country from falling to Communism. President Chamoun left office in September after having completed his term, further instability ensued when Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, the invasion targeted the Palestine Liberation Organization bases in Beirut. In August 1982, he was successful in bringing about an agreement for the evacuation of Syrian troops, the agreement also provided for the deployment of a three-nation Multinational Force during the period of the evacuation
22.
War on Terror
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The War on Terror, also known as the Global War on Terrorism, is a metaphor of war referring to the international military campaign that started after the September 11th attacks on the United States. U. S. President George W. Bush first used the term War on Terror on 20 September 2001 and it was originally used with a particular focus on countries associated with Islamic terrorist organizations including al-Qaeda and like-minded organizations. In 2013, President Barack Obama announced that the United States was no longer pursuing a War on Terror, in 2017 Donald Trump assumed presidency of the United States and vowed that the fight against ISIL is his number one priority. Trump has also agreed to work together and carry joint operations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war on terror. The phrase War on Terror has been used to refer to the ongoing military campaign led by the U. S. The conflict has also referred to by names other than the War on Terror. Author Shane Harris asserts this was a reaction to the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Bush later apologized for this remark due to the negative connotations the term crusade has to people, e. g. of the Muslim faith. The word crusade was not used again, on 20 September 2001, during a televised address to a joint session of Congress, Bush stated that ur war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, in April 2007, the British government announced publicly that it was abandoning the use of the phrase War on Terror as they found it to be less than helpful. This was explained more recently by Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, in her 2011 Reith lecture, the former head of MI5 said that the 9/11 attacks were a crime, not an act of war. So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror. U. S. President Barack Obama has rarely used the term, in March 2009 the Defense Department officially changed the name of operations from Global War on Terror to Overseas Contingency Operation. In March 2009, the Obama administration requested that Pentagon staff members avoid the use of the term, basic objectives of the Bush administration war on terror, such as targeting al Qaeda and building international counterterrorism alliances, remain in place. Because the actions involved in the war on terrorism are diffuse, jackson cites among many examples a statement by John Ashcroft that the attacks of September 11 drew a bright line of demarcation between the civil and the savage. Administration officials also described terrorists as hateful, treacherous, barbarous, mad, twisted, perverted, without faith, parasitical, inhuman, Americans, in contrast, were described as brave, loving, generous, strong, resourceful, heroic, and respectful of human rights. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to the Soviet war in Afghanistan, a small number of Afghan Arab volunteers joined the fight against the Soviets, including Osama bin Laden, but there is no evidence they received any external assistance. On 7 August 1998, al-Qaeda struck the U. S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, the plant produced much of the regions antimalarial drugs and around 50% of Sudans pharmaceutical needs. The strikes failed to kill any leaders of WIFJAJC or the Taliban, next came the 2000 millennium attack plots, which included an attempted bombing of Los Angeles International Airport
23.
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
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The mandate had to be adjusted twice, due to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. The first UNIFIL troops were deployed in the area on 23 March 1978, during the occupation, UNIFILs function was mainly to provide humanitarian aid. UNIFILs mandate is renewed by United Nations Security Council annually, the current mandate expires on 31 August 2017. During the 1982 Lebanon War, UN positions were overrun, primarily by the SLA forces under Saad Haddad and this was the Lebanese paramilitary force supported by the IDF in Southern Lebanon. In 1999, Israel undertook a withdrawal, which concluded in 2000, UNIFIL is currently deployed in Southern Lebanon and primarily along the United Nations-drawn Blue Line, which is the border between Israel and Lebanon. The forces activities have centered around monitoring military activity between Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces with the aim of reducing tensions and allaying tension along the border. UNIFIL has also played an important role in clearing landmines, assisting displaced persons, under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which passed as a result of the 2006 Lebanon War, its mandate and rules of engagement changed. The mandate changed to allow up to 15,000 personnel in order to assist the Lebanese Armed Forces in deploying in Southern Lebanon to implement the Lebanese governments sovereignty. The rules of engagement changed to allow the troops to fire in certain cases, mostly in cases of self-defense but also in order to protect civilians, UN personnel and facilities. ”On 27 August 2006, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that UNIFIL would not intercept arms shipments from Syria. The Maritime Task Force is the component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. As of February 2012, the MTF is under the command of Rear Admiral Wagner Lopes de Moraes Zamith of Brazil, the Brazilian frigate Constituição is the flagship of the fleet comprising vessels from Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany, Greece, Indonesia and Turkey. With its establishment in October 2006, the force was led by the German Navy which was also the major contributor to the force. The Germans lead the MTF up until 29 February 2008 when they passed control over to EUROMARFOR – a force made up of ships from Portugal, Spain, Italy and France. To date UNIFIL has suffered 272 fatalities,261 troops, two observers, five international civilian staff, and four local staff. Prior to the July 2006 Lebanon War, Israel had been lobbying for UNIFIL to either take an active role vis-a-vis Hezbollah or to step out of the region. Israel was concerned when it was reported that Indonesia was being considered to replace Italy as commander of UNIFILs naval force, according to the book, in 1992, two detained Lebanese men escaped from Khiam prison. Shortly afterward, Israeli Army commander Moshe Tamir visited the Norwegian battalions camp, immediately after the confrontation, the Lebanese men were smuggled onto a bus used by Norwegian peacekeepers on leave, which took them to Beirut. Hezbollah supporters have accused UNIFIL of siding with Israel, especially since the passage of Resolution 1701 which they view as one-sided
24.
2006 Lebanon War
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The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israel Defense Forces. The conflict was precipitated by the Zarit-Shtula incident, on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah fighters fired rockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion for an anti-tank missile attack on two armored Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence. The ambush left three soldiers dead, two Israeli soldiers were abducted and taken by Hezbollah to Lebanon. Five more were killed in Lebanon, in a rescue attempt. Hezbollah demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the release of the abducted soldiers, Israel refused and responded with airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon. Israel attacked both Hezbollah military targets and Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beiruts Rafic Hariri International Airport, the IDF launched a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon. Israel also imposed an air and naval blockade, Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the IDF in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions. The conflict is believed to have killed between 1,191 and 1,300 Lebanese people, and 165 Israelis and it severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese and 300, 000–500,000 Israelis. On 11 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities, the Lebanese Army began deploying in Southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006, on 1 October 2006, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, although the last of the troops continued to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar. In the time since the enactment of UNSCR1701 both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have stated that they will not disarm Hezbollah, the remains of the two captured soldiers, whose fates were unknown, were returned to Israel on 16 July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange. Concurrently, Syria began a 29-year military occupation in 1976, Israels 1978 invasion of Lebanon failed to stem the Palestinian attacks in the long run, but Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and forcibly expelled the PLO. Israel withdrew to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, held with the aid of proxy militants in the South Lebanon Army. When the Lebanese Civil War ended and other warring factions agreed to disarm, ten years later, Israel withdrew from South Lebanon to the UN-designated and internationally recognized Blue Line border in 2000. The withdrawal also led to the collapse of the SLA. In these attacks, including the attack that precipitated the Israeli response that developed into the war,31 Israelis were killed and 104 were wounded. In August 2006, in an article in The New Yorker, the US government denied these claims. In June 2005, an Israel Defense Forces paratroop unit operating near the Shebaa Farms engaged three Lebanese it identified as Hezbollah special force members, killing one, videotapes recovered by the paratroopers contained footage of the three recording detailed accounts of the area
25.
2007 Lebanon conflict
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It was the most severe internal fighting since Lebanons 1975–90 civil war. Lebanon is home to more than 400,000 Palestinian refugees, some 215,000 of whom live in camps, in 1962, Palestinians were categorized as foreigners in Lebanon, regardless of how long they had lived there. Non-Lebanese, which included the refugees, were restricted from working in over 70 skilled professions until 2005, the civil war left Lebanons government and the general Lebanese populace deeply suspicious of Palestinian refugees because of their involvement in the Lebanese war. Yet, under a 1969 Arab accord, later annulled by the Lebanese Parliament in the mid-1980s but maintained in principle, the current residents of the camps are currently denied access to their homeland or neighboring Arab nations. Fatah al-Islam militants based in the camp were blamed, about 30,000 displaced Palestinians live in the camp. Fighting began early in the morning after a raid on a house in Tripoli which was apparently being used by militants from Fatah al-Islam. The militant group subsequently began shooting at the Lebanese security forces who returned fire, the men reportedly resisted arrest and the violence spread to neighbouring streets. By now the camp was surrounded by the Lebanese Army and more troops were coming in with tanks. Beiruts airport was the scene of military aid shipments, mainly from the United States. Tanks massed outside the Nahr al-Bared camp and started a ground offensive, the fighting was concentrated in the southern and northern entrances of the camp. At least 19 people were killed, including three army soldiers, among the dead was also a senior leader of Fatah al-Islam, Abu Riyadh, he had been killed by a Lebanese army sniper. After 48 hours of fighting the battle was over and the Army was repelled, after mediators failed to convince the Islamists to surrender, the Lebanese Army attacked Nahr el-Bared once again. The troops advanced 50 meters before they had to stop after taking heavy casualties due to booby-trapped buildings, in all 29 people were killed within 24 hours,11 soldiers,16 militants and 2 civilians. Some of the fighting was close-quarters and almost hand to hand, on June 11, two Lebanese Red Cross workers were killed outside Nahr al-Bared as they were evacuating civilians. On June 12, the Lebanese army continued their push and took two key positions from Fatah al-Islam within the camp, one of them on the side of the camp. The Lebanese Army continued the offensive and heavy bombardment hit the camp, on June 16, two Lebanese Gazelle helicopters fired four air-to-ground missiles at suspected militant positions inside the camp. In 48 hours the Army managed to take another six Fatah al-Islam positions, at this time the only aim of the military was to destroy all of the militants positions on the outskirts of the camp, but the Army had no intention of going into the camp itself. On June 19, the Army finally managed to take all of the positions of the Islamists
26.
2008 conflict in Lebanon
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The 2008 conflict in Lebanon began on May 7, after Lebanons 17-month-long political crisis spiraled out of control. The fighting was sparked by a government move to shut down Hezbollahs telecommunication network, Hezbollah-led opposition fighters seized control of several West Beirut neighborhoods from Future Movement militiamen loyal to the government, in street battles that left 11 dead and 30 wounded. The opposition-seized areas were then handed over to the Lebanese Army, the army also pledged to resolve the dispute and has reversed the decisions of the government by letting Hezbollah preserve its telecoms network and re-instating the airports security chief. Rival Lebanese leaders reached a deal on May 21,2008, to end the 18-month political feud that exploded into fighting, on December 1,2006, a series of protests and sit-ins began in Lebanon, led by groups that opposed the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The opposition group was made up of pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Amal, a number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada Movement, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. The two groups are divided along religious lines, the majority of Sunnis supporting the government. Druze aligned with Walid Jumblatt support the government, while those allied to Talal Arslan have backed the opposition, the Christian community is divided as well, with Michel Aoun claiming to have 70% of the Christian communitys support, based on the results of 2005 parliamentary elections. The standoff between the March 14 government and the March 8 opposition resulted in a deadlock over the election of a new President to succeed Emile Lahoud whose term had expired. Seymour Hersh believed that the U. S was working to weaken and disarm Hezbollah with the help of Saudi Arabia, in May 2008 the tensions between the government and the opposition escalated when the government announced a series of security decisions. Heads of the government accused Hezbollah of preparing for a terrorist attack, on May 3, leaders of the government accused Hezbollah of setting up a hidden, remote-controlled camera in a container park overlooking the main runway of Beiruts international airport. Hezbollah dismissed the accusations again, saying that those who leveled them were simply parroting a US campaign against it, on May 6,2008 the government attempted to disable Hezbollahs communications network. Hezbollah operates a fiber optic network, linking its strongholds of south and east Lebanon. Hezbollah claimed that the network was a key element in the 2006 Lebanon War. The government regarded the network as a breach on its sovereignty, in addition, the network was regarded by the government as an infringement on public funds since it claimed that it competes with its own and using the Lebanese infrastructure. Hezbollah declared that it regards the network as an part of its defensive measures against Israel. Brig Gen Shuqeir hushed up the discovery of a surveillance camera allegedly set up by Hezbollah in a container overlooking the main runway, to monitor the movement of aircraft. The next day, Hezbollahs leader Hassan Nasrallah stated on television that the network was essential in the militant groups resistance against Israel. Nasrallah further said that the government was declaring war by threatening to shut down the private communications network
27.
Battle of Sidon (2013)
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The Battle of Sidon was part of the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon, and involved the Lebanese Army and Sunni militants in the city of Sidon, Lebanon. Clashes between the followers of militant preacher Ahmed Al-Assir resulted in the deaths of 18 soldiers, 25–40 al-Assir gunmen, the clashes were the deadliest since the Syria-related internal conflict in Lebanon began in 2011. The Syrian civil war has heightened sectarian tensions within Lebanon, particularly between Sunni and Shia Muslims, many of whom support opposing sides and have entered the conflict in large numbers. Hezbollah leader Sayed Hassan Nasrallah announced on May 25 that Hezbollah would openly support President Bashar al-Assads forces in fighting the insurgency in Syria. Some Sunni leaders in Lebanon have likewise at various points in time called for Jihad against the Assad government in Syria, Al-Assir then gave Hezbollah a one-week ultimatum to vacate apartments occupied by the groups supporters in the mostly Sunni city. Clashes broke out between gunmen backing Hezbollah and Sheik Al-Assir, both sides wielding automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, officials stated that the gunmen fighting al-Assirs followers were believed to be Hezbollah sympathizers. Lebanese army troops deployed in the area of the fighting, which subsided after several hours, the military called on gunmen to withdraw immediately from the streets. McClatchy News and the Times of London reported that Hezbollah forces backed the army, roads were later blocked in other parts of the country, and the army came under fire in the Ain el-Hilweh camp. The next day, the Lebanese army launched a crackdown on the pro-Assair militia attacking houses near his Mosque in Sidon from which Assair operates, at least four tanks and several army vehicles were destroyed. Lebanese Army commandos seized a complex controlled by gunmen loyal to Sheikh Ahmad Assir, Assir reportedly fled the complex at around 10 a. m. shortly after the Army stormed the premises which the military gradually gained control over throughout the day. 22 bodies were pulled out of Assirs mosque after the Army captured it, sources said soldiers were still trading gunfire with snipers located on the rooftops of nearby buildings. Ahmed al-Assir was still at large with the Army having orders to capture or kill him after he was accused of killing soldiers in cold blood, 65–70 gunmen, including several non-Lebanese nationals, reportedly either surrendered or were captured by Army units during the raid on the complex. Lebanon’s military prosecutor issued arrest warrants against Assir and 123 of his followers, the warrants included the names of Assirs brother, and singer Fadl Shaker, who gave up his singing career to follow Al-Assir. Some sources claimed Hezbollah fighters had backed the Lebanese Army, but this was denied by Lebanese Defence Minister Fayez Ghosn. Overall, at least 50 people died during the fighting, 17–18 soldiers, 25–40 militants and reportedly four Hezbollah fighters were killed. Two civilians were killed, including a bodyguard of a cleric, 100–128 Lebanese soldiers,60 pro-Assir militants, over 50 civilians and reportedly 15 Hezbollah fighters were wounded. Assir denounced the army as Shia stooges and urged soldiers to defect from the Lebanese army and join him, shortly after those threats, video of Hezbollah fighting alongside the Army was broadcast on Lebanese television. The Army also came under fire from human rights activists for the beating of one detainee from the battle
28.
Military ranks of Lebanon
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The Lebanese Armed Forces or Forces Armées Libanaises in French, also known as the Lebanese Army according to its official website, is the military of the Lebanese Republic. It consists of three branches, the army, the air force and the navy, the motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is Honor, Sacrifice, Loyalty. The armed forces consist of 87,000 active personnel with the ground consisting of approximately 80,000 troops. The remaining personnel are commanders, advisors, engineers and members of the special forces, the country has six military colleges and schools. Lebanese officers are sent to countries such as the US. The equipment of the LAF is outdated due to lack of funds, political bickering and until the 2000s, the Lebanese government is working with its partners to improve the armed forces capabilities. After the conclusion of the Lebanese Civil War, the LAF decided to repair as much of its equipment as it could, about 85% of the LAFs equipment is American-made, with the remaining being British, French, and Soviet-made. The Lebanese Army finds its original roots in the armed forces that were first formed under Prince Fakher el-Din II the Great in the early 17th-century during the Principality of Lebanon. The first major victory came on October 31,1622 against the Ottoman Empire Army under the lead of the Pasha of Damascus in the Battle of Majdel Anjar. Outnumbered, Fakher el-Din was nevertheless victorious and was able to capture the Pasha of Damascus himself and takeover Syria, Galilee, during the period of the semi-autonomous province period of Mount Lebanon between 1861 and 1914, no Turkish troops were allowed to station within its boundary. The beginnings of the modern Lebanese Army arose during 1916, when the French government established the Legion of the Orient, which included Lebanese soldiers. After a post World War I League of Nations mandate was established over Lebanon in April 1920, France formed the Army of the Levant, which was later reorganized into the Troupes Spéciales du Levant. Later in 1926, the Lebanese First Sharp Shooters Unit was created out of the Special Troops of the Levant, during World War II, Lebanese troops fought in Lebanon with the Vichy French forces against Free French and British forces. In 1943, prior to the declaration of Lebanese independence, all the units were combined in one brigade. On the day Lebanon declared independence, the Lebanese Third Sharp Shooters Regiment was placed at the disposal of the Lebanese government in order to maintain security. In June of the year, the French reconstituted units of the Troupes Spéciales du Levant. The majority of the Lebanese Armed Forces remained a part of the French Army in Lebanon, after gaining independence in 1943, the Lebanese government formed an official delegation in 1944 to negotiate with the French the terms related to handing over the LAF. After nearly three weeks of talks, the joint French-British Command decreed that responsibility for armed units under French control were to be handed over to the Independent Government of Lebanon and these units were part of the Troupes Spéciales du Levant and totaled about 3,000 men
29.
Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
30.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
31.
Military
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The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their body and to defend that body. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives, the study of the use of armed forces is called military science. Broadly speaking, this involves considering offense and defense at three levels, strategy, operational art, and tactics, all three levels study the application of the use of force in order to achieve a desired objective. In most countries the basis of the forces is the military. However, armed forces can include other paramilitary structures, the obvious benefit to a country in maintaining armed forces is in providing protection from foreign threats and from internal conflict. In recent decades armed forces personnel have also used as emergency civil support roles in post-disaster situations. On the other hand, they may harm a society by engaging in counter-productive warfare. Expenditure on science and technology to develop weapons and systems sometimes produces side benefits, although some claim that greater benefits could come from targeting the money directly
32.
Cedrus libani
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Cedrus libani, commonly known as the Cedar of Lebanon is a species of cedar native to the mountains of the Eastern Mediterranean basin. It is a conifer that can reach 40 m in height. Cedrus libani is the emblem of Lebanon and is widely used as an ornamental tree in parks. Cedrus libani is a coniferous tree, it can reach 40 m in height with a massive monopodial columnar trunk up to 2.5 m in diameter. The trunks of old trees ordinarily fork into several large, erect branches, the rough and scaly bark is dark grey to blackish brown, it is run through by deep horizontal fissures that peel in small chips. The first-order branches are ascending in young trees, they grow to a size and take on a horizontal. Second-order branches are dense and grow in a horizontal plane, the crown is conical when young, becoming broadly tabular with age with fairly level branches, trees growing in dense forests maintain a more pyramidal shape. The shoots are dimorphic, with long and short shoots. New shoots are brown, older shoots turn grey, grooved. C. libani has slightly resinous ovoid vegetative buds measuring 2 to 3 mm long and 1.5 to 2 mm wide enclosed by pale brown deciduous scales. Cedrus libani produces cones at around the age of 40, it flowers in autumn, the male cones appear in early September and the female ones in late September. Male cones occur at the ends of the shoots, they are solitary and erect approximately 4 to 5 cm long. The female seed cones also grow at the ends of short shoots. The young seed cones are resinous, sessile and pale green, the mature woody cones are 8 to 12 cm long and 3 to 6 cm wide, they are scaly, resinous, ovoid or barrel shaped and gray-brown in color. Mature cones open from top to bottom, they disintegrate and lose their seed scales releasing the seeds until only the cone rachis remains attached to the branches. The seed scales are thin, broad and coriaceous measuring 3.5 to 4 cm long and 3 to 3.5 cm wide. The seeds are ovoid,10 to 14 mm long and 4 to 6 mm wide, Cedrus libani grows rapidly until the age of 45 to 50 years, growth becomes extremely slow after the age of 70 years. Cedrus is the Latin name for true cedars, the specific epithet refers the Lebanon mountain range where the species was first described by French botanist Achille Richard, the tree is commonly known as the Lebanon cedar or Cedar of Lebanon
33.
Laurus nobilis
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Laurus nobilis is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glabrous leaves, in the flowering plant family Lauraceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and is used as bay leaf for seasoning in cooking and its common names include bay laurel, sweet bay, bay, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree or simply laurel. Laurus nobilis figures prominently in classical Greek, Roman, and Biblical culture, the laurel is an evergreen shrub or small tree, variable in size and sometimes reaching 7–18 metres tall. The genus Laurus includes four accepted species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap, the bay laurel is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. Each flower is pale yellow-green, about 1 cm diameter, the leaves are glabrous, 6–12 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with an entire margin. On some leaves the margin undulates, the fruit is a small, shiny black berry-like drupe about 1 cm long that contains one seed. A recent study found considerable genetic diversity within L. nobilis, Laurus nobilis is a widespread relic of the laurel forests that originally covered much of the Mediterranean Basin when the climate of the region was more humid. With the drying of the Mediterranean during the Pliocene era, the forests gradually retreated. The most abundant component found in essential oil is 1, 8-cineole. Both essential and fatty oils are present in the fruit, the fruit is pressed and water-extracted to obtain these products. The fruit contains up to 30% fatty oils and about 1% essential oils, the plant is the source of several popular herbs and one spice used in a wide variety of recipes, particularly among Mediterranean cuisines. Most commonly, the leaves are added whole to Italian pasta sauces. They are typically removed from dishes before serving, unless used as a simple garnish, whole bay leaves have a long shelf life of about one year, under normal temperature and humidity. Whole bay leaves are used almost exclusively as flavor agents during the preparation stage. Ground bay leaves, however, can be ingested safely and are used in soups and stocks. Dried laurel berries and pressed leaf oil can both be used as robust spices, and the wood can be burnt for strong smoke flavoring, aqueous extracts of bay laurel can also be used as astringents and even as a reasonable salve for open wounds. In massage therapy, the oil of bay laurel is reputed to alleviate arthritis and rheumatism, while in aromatherapy, it is used to treat earaches. A traditional folk remedy for rashes caused by poison ivy, poison oak, the chemical compound lauroside B isolated from Laurus nobilis is an inhibitor of human melanoma cell proliferation at high concentrations in-vitro
34.
Air force
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An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nations armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy, or a marine corps. Typically, air forces are responsible for gaining control of the air, carrying out strategic and tactical bombing missions, Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft. Many air forces are responsible for operations of the military space, intercontinental ballistic missiles. Some air forces may command and control other air defence assets such as artillery, surface-to-air missiles, or anti-ballistic missile warning networks. In addition to pilots, air forces have ground support staff who support the aircrew, however, some supporting personnel such as airfield defence troops, weapons engineers and air intelligence staff do not have equivalent roles in civilian organizations. Balloon or flying corps are not generally regarded as examples of an air force, however, with the invention of heavier-than-air craft in the early 20th century, armies and navies began to take interest in this new form of aviation as a means to wage war. The first aviation force in the world was the Aviation Militaire of the French Army formed in 1910, in 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War, Italy employed aircraft for the first time ever in the world for reconnaissance and bombing missions against Turkish positions on Libyan Territory. The Italian–Turkish war of 1911–1912 was the first in history that featured air attacks by airplanes, during World War I France, Germany, Italy, the British Empire and the Ottoman Empire all possessed significant forces of bombers and fighters. World War I also saw the appearance of senior commanders who directed aerial warfare, the British Royal Air Force was the first independent air force in the world. The RAF was founded on 1 April 1918 by amalgamation the British Armys Royal Flying Corps, on establishment the RAF comprised over 20,000 aircraft, was commanded by a Chief of the Air Staff who held the rank of major-general and was governed by its own government ministry. Over the following decades most countries with any military capability established their own independent air forces. The Canadian Air Force was formed at the end of World War I and it became the permanent Royal Canadian Air Force when it received the Royal title by royal proclamation on 1 April 1924. It did not however become independent of the Canadian Army until 1938 when its head was designated as Chief of the Air Staff. Similarly, the Royal New Zealand Air Force was established in 1923 as the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, other British-influenced countries also established their own independent air forces. For example, the Royal Egyptian Air Force was created in 1937 when Egyptian military aviation was separated from Army command, outside of the British Empire, the Finnish Air Force was established as a separate service on 4 May 1928 and the Brazilian Air Force was created in 1941. Both the United States Air Force and the Philippine Air Force were formed as a separate branches of their armed forces in 1947. The Israeli Air Force came into being with the State of Israel on 18 May 1948, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force was not established until 1954, in World War II Japanese military aviation had been carried out by the Army and Navy
35.
Humanitarianism
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Humanitarianism is a moral of kindness, benevolence, and sympathy extended to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically, but universality is a theme in its evolution. No distinction is to be made on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, race, caste, age, religion, ability, the historian G. M. Trevelyan viewed humanitarianism as the product of rationalism upon Puritanism. The idea that mankind could be improved by deliberate social change distinct from the conferring of charity was relatively new, reform distinguished the humanitarian movement from philanthropy. Christian philanthropy tended to reform as political. In contrast, the movement thought reform essential to remove abuses. European individualism can be traced to the Greeks and it was the stoics, who like Aristotle, attributed significance to the human soul, but who, unlike Aristotle, considered all human beings equal in that significance. Natural law, as the stoics conceived it, was based upon this principle of spiritual equality, positive law was subject to the law of nature and, hence, uniquely to the ancient world, the stoics opposed slavery. In 18th century Enlightenment Europe, the idea of the equal moral significance of the individual in this world re-emerged grounded upon reason. Prevention of cruelty to animals involved extension of the principle to non-humans, the stoics had grounded moral significance on capacity to reason. In the 18th century, conflicting religious belief became tolerated to a degree unthinkable a century earlier, in England, pressure on Parliament led to regulation of working hours and amelioration of working conditions. An international dimension was added to humanitarian reform with the founding of the International Red Cross, finally, cruelty to animals became punishable. In contrast, social action in the 19th century was influenced by feeling and, in some instances. The initiative remained with small groups of reformers, which set about influencing public opinion, one reason for the change was the advent of democracy - limited though it was until well into the 19th century. The industrial proletariat crowding into cities made it feasible to hold mass meetings, Political pamphlets had first circulated in England during the civil war. In fiction, novels like Uncle Toms Cabin and those of Charles Dickens drew attention to social wrongs and this led to a change in approach which became less philosophical and more emotive, fastening on the inhumanity to which social action was directed. In 1503, the Spanish Governor in the Indies, Nicolás de Ovando, las Casas, who accompanied him, observed the toll of the work, and suggested the Indians be replaced by Negroes, thus beginning the transatlantic slave trade. Some 900,000 slaves were landed in the Americas by 1600, from the 17th century, demand for African labour expanded greatly with the increased importation of sugar into Europe
36.
Beirut
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Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been done but in 2007 estimates ranged from more than 1 million to slightly less than 2 million as part of Greater Beirut. Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanons Mediterranean coast, Beirut is the countrys largest and it is one of the oldest cities in the world, inhabited more than 5,000 years ago. The first historical mention of Beirut is found in the ancient Egyptian Tell el Amarna letters dating from the 15th century BC, the Beirut River runs south to north on the eastern edge of the city. Beirut is Lebanons seat of government and plays a role in the Lebanese economy, with most banks and corporations based in its Central District, Badaro, Rue Verdun, Hamra. Following the destructive Lebanese Civil War, Beiruts cultural landscape underwent major reconstruction, identified and graded for accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law, Beirut is ranked as a Beta World City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. In May 2015, Beirut was officially recognized as one of the New7Wonders Cities together with Vigan, Doha, Durban, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and La Paz. Beirut I, or Minet el Hosn, was listed as Beyrouth ville by Louis Burkhalter and said to be on the beach near the Orent, the site was discovered by Lortet in 1894 and discussed by Godefroy Zumoffen in 1900. The flint industry from the site was described as Mousterian and is held by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, Beirut II, or Umm el Khatib, was suggested by Burkhalter to have been south of Tarik el Jedideh, where P. E. Gigues discovered a Copper Age flint industry at around 100 metres above sea level, the site had been built on and destroyed by 1948. Beirut III, Furn esh Shebbak or Plateau Tabet, was suggested to have located on the left bank of the Beirut River. Burkhalter suggested that it was west of the Damascus road, although this determination has been criticized by Lorraine Copeland, P. E. Gigues discovered a series of Neolithic flint tools on the surface along with the remains of a structure suggested to be a hut circle. Auguste Bergy discussed polished axes that were found at this site. The area was covered in red sand that represented Quaternary river terraces, the site was found by Jesuit Father Dillenseger and published by fellow Jesuits Godefroy Zumoffen, Raoul Describes and Auguste Bergy. Collections from the site were made by Bergy, Describes and another Jesuit, a large number of Middle Paleolithic flint tools were found on the surface and in side gullies that drain into the river. They included around 50 varied bifaces accredited to the Acheulean period, some with a lustrous sheen, Henri Fleisch also found an Emireh point amongst material from the site, which has now disappeared beneath buildings. Levallois flints and bones and similar material were found amongst brecciated deposits. The area has now built on
37.
Fakhr-al-Din II
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He is often referred to as Fakhr ad-Din II because of his grandfather Fakhr ad-Din I. He and members of his family were from time to time appointed Sanjakbeyi or governor/tax-farmer of districts like Sidon or Beirut. His period was characterized by economic and cultural prosperity, and he had fought other Lebanese families to unite the people of Lebanon and he is therefore considered by some to be the first Man of Lebanon to seek the sovereignty of modern-day Lebanon. Others consider this to be anachronistic as his aims were more dynastic than national, however, the Ottomans eventually tired of this troublesome vassal. Sultan Murad IV had him executed with one or two of his sons on April 13,1635, born in Baakline to a Druze family, he was according to some accounts raised in the Lebanese village of Abey. There are conflicting versions of his life, but it is certain that his father died when he was 13. One of the accounts of the Maans in general and Fakhr ad-Din in particular is by Abdul-Rahim Abu-Husayn. In 1608 Fakhr-al-Din forged an alliance with the Italian Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the alliance contained both a public economic section and a secret military one. Professor Abu-Husayn has made the Ottoman archives relevant to the emirs career available, faced with Hafizs army of 50,000 men, Fakhr-al-Din chose exile in Tuscany, leaving affairs in the hands of his brother Emir Yunis and his son Emir Ali Beg. They succeeded in maintaining most of the such as Banias. Before leaving, Fakhr ad-Din paid his standing army of two years wages in order to secure their loyalty. Hosted in Tuscany by the Medici Family, Fakhr-al-Din was welcomed by the grand duke Cosimo II and he spent a further three years as guest of the Spanish Viceroy of Sicily and then Naples, the Duke Osuna. The prince eventually gave up the idea, realizing that Europe was more interested in trade with the Ottomans than in taking back the Holy Land and his stay nevertheless allowed him to witness Europes cultural revival in the 17th century, and bring back some Renaissance ideas and architectural features. Under his rule, printing presses were introduced and Jesuit priests, in 1623, the prince angered the Ottomans by refusing to allow an army on its way back from the Persian front to winter in the Bekaa. However, as passed, the Ottomans grew increasingly uncomfortable with the princes increasing powers. This time, the prince had decided to remain in Lebanon and resist the offensive and he later took refuge in Nihas grotto, closely followed by Kuchuk Ahmed Pasha. He surrendered to the Ottoman general Jaafar Pasha, whom he knew well, Fakhr-al-Din was taken to Istanbul and kept in the Yedikule prison for two years. He was then summoned before the sultan, Fakhr-al-Din, and one or two of his sons, were accused of treason and executed there on 13 April 1635
38.
Mount Lebanon Emirate
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The Emirate of Mount Lebanon was an autonomous subdivision in the Ottoman Empire. The Emirate is considered to be a precursor of the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate established in 1861, which was, in turn. Historians have given different names to this entity, Shuf Emirate, Emirate of Jabal Druze, Emirate of Mount Lebanon, the boundaries were not well defined. The town of Baakleen was the capital of the emirate during the Maan period until Fakhr-al-Din II chose to live in Dar El Qamar due to a shortage in Baakleen. Dar El Kamar remained the capital until Bashir Shihab II ascended to the throne, Beiteddine remains the capital of the Chouf District today. The emir was thus the dominant warlord in the Lebanese mountains, Fakhr al-Din established a subtle symbiosis between the Maronites of Kisrawan and the Druzes of the Shuf mountains. After his downfall, the Ottomans tried different ways to break up this symbiosis, in the end, they returned power to the Maans in the person of Ahmad al-Maani, the grandnephew of Fakhr al-Din, in 1667. The relations between the Porte and the Shihab emirs revolved around the payment of taxes, and the legitimation of their position as multazims. Bashir Shihab II was also an important prince but he was viewed as a tyrant at the rather than a leader. That led to the 1840 revolution against Bashir and his Egyptian allies, Fakhr al-Din I, was supposedly awarded with the emirate of the Shuf after fighting on the side of Selim I at the Battle of Marj Dabiq. In any case, he emerged soon afterwards as a local force, the Ottomans divided the territories they conquered from the Mamluks into wilayas, sanjaks and nahiyas, and assigned qadis and military governors to the larger administrative divisions. The Maan family holdings were divided among the three wilayas of Damascus, Tripoli, and Sidon. The family had not been prominent under the Mamluks, but was strong enough under the Ottomans to be in charge of dividing the tax-farms assigned to it among a number of local notables. By the end of his reign, Fakhr al-Din Is authority extended from the borders of Jaffa to Tripoli. Fakhr al-Din was succeeded by his son Qurqumaz, who was involved in frequent conflicts both with his neighbours and with the Ottomans, as the system involved constant power struggles. In 1544 the emir Qurqumaz succeeded his father Fakhr al-Din, in 1585, a caravan transporting the taxes collected in Egypt and Syria was plundered at Djun Akkar. The Ottomans, suspecting the Ma‘an of complicity and of having sheltered the criminals, the emir Qurqumaz shut himself up in the inaccessible rock of Shakif Tirun near Jezzine and died there, of chagrin or poison, in 1585. Qurqumaz was succeeded by his son, who became Fakhr al-Din II in 1591
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