Lebanon Today: A Primer

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
03 November '10

There is a struggle for power in Lebanon of the greatest importance. Yet it is a battle that the West, for all practical purposes, has already ceded the country to the Iran-Syria bloc.

Lebanon has a unique political system. It is what might be called a communal democracy, with the top jobs and parliamentary seats parceled out on the basis of the country’s main groupings defined by religion. The three largest are the Maronite Christian (Catholic), Sunni Muslim, and Shia Muslim, followed by the Druze. Each has its complex history of leading trends, oppositions, alliance, and warfare.

Basically, the situation in recent years has been the creation of an alliance between the Christians, Sunni Muslims, and Druze, called the March 15 alliance, to wrest the country’s independence from Syrian control. The non-violent revolt began in 2005 after Syria and local allies assassinated the Sunni leader, Rafiq Hariri. Massive demonstrations demanded the withdrawal of Syria’s army and, to everyone’s surprise, won.

With the March 15 alliance in power, led by Said Hariri, son of the fallen leader, Lebanon tried to steer clear of Iranian-Syrian control and restrain the radical Islamist group Hizballah. But with Hizballah having the country’s strongest militia, and enjoying full support (including funding and arms) from its Iranian and Syrian patrons, the moderates could not hold out. A wave of assassinations began against the government’s supporters. The United States and Europeans did nothing.

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