Lebanon Phenomenon

In a nation renowned for its snow capped mountains and lush cedar forests laid dormant a violent beast of civil strife. The nation of Lebanon once boasted impressive financial prosperity establishing itself as a popular tourist destination throughout the mid 20th century. This glorious title was stripped away with the emergence of civil war on April 13, 1975 dividing the country into multiple opposing factions. This was in part due to the establishment of the "State of Israel" in 1947 which forced 400,000 Palestinian refugees into Lebanon with a significant portion of them belonging to the Fatah as well as other insurgent groups. These (Muslim) Fatah members and insurgents opposed the Maronite christian government that maintained religious dominance over the country. Due to the United State's strong investment of interest in a christian dominated Lebanon a 15 year religion orientated conflict commenced. Violent clashes between Palestinian/Lebanese Muslims and the US backed Maronite's resulted in another 250,000 lives lost in a pointless pursuit to deem a nation Christian or Muslim. In the lieu of a war zone now lies the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East encompassing integrated groups of Maronite Christians, Shiite/Sunni Muslims, and even Druze/Greek orthodox.  

Despite this positive progress and social reform Lebanon is not free from social unrest as it lies directly juxtapose to Syria and Israel. Due to continuous disputes between Israel and Palestine an incessant flow of refugees has caused a lack stability in Lebanon and surrounding Mediterranean nations causing economic imbalance. Lebanon's governance is formally a parliamentary democracy however the country has been without a president since 2014 when Michel Sulayman's term expired leaving political power to Prime Minister Tammam Salam as a transitional president. As of recently the current Lebanese government has experienced tension between them and Hezbollah creating outbursts of violence and occasionally political deadlock. Due to recent disputes between Iran and Saudi Arabia Lebanon has found itself cut off from billions of dollars in aid as well as a political battleground between these two countries.

Lebanon claims an unfortunate position geographically in the middle east as it finds itself amidst Israeli-Palestinian and Iranian-Saudi upheaval. Though facing a barrage of hardships the Lebanese still find the time and energy to educate 100,000 Syrian refugees in attempt to lend a humanitarian hand to its Arab brothers despite religious practices or beliefs. Paralleled with this the Maharishi foundation has been acting as a 'lighthouse of coherence and peace' for the middle east through Transcendental Meditation.

It's safe to praise the resilience of the Lebanese and commend their passion for obtaining peace in the Middle East despite their ongoing conflicts and reform.
Links;
News Story: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/lebanon/index.html
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NWwuEIsiZk
Image:
http://glamroz.com/lebanese-civil-war-13-april1975-1990-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B0%D9%83%D8%B1_%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7_%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF/