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Lebanon

 
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Context

While France's presence in Lebanon for the past forty years is primarily explained by the need to participate in maintaining regional peace and security, it is also rooted in a centuries-old history that unites these two States through close cultural ties. As early as the 13th century, St. Louis relied on the Maronite Christians as part of the 7th Crusade. Nearly three centuries later, Francis I obtained from Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, in addition to commercial privileges in Turkey, the right to protect the Christians present on the territory of the Ottoman Empire, both pilgrims and residents. This status of protector of the Christians of the East was further affirmed during the Second Empire. In 1860, the troops of Napoleon III intervened in Lebanon to defend the Maronite Christians, victims of violence from the Druze. The following year, France negotiated with the Ottomans a specific status for what was then Mount Lebanon, which was to be administered by a Christian governor. It then launched a vast educational policy based on the Catholic congregations, which complemented its military presence with an increased cultural and political influence. The Ottoman Empire having sided with the central empires in the First World War, the Third Republic dispatched a squadron to impose a blockade along the Mediterranean coast. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the French obtained guardianship over Lebanon and Syria through the mandates determined at the San Remo conference. In 1920, General Gouraud, the high commissioner exercising French supervision there, proclaimed the "Greater Lebanon", fulfilling the wishes of the Maronites but displeasing the Emir Faisal, who hoped to unify the Arab populations of the region in a "Greater Syria". Although the Lebanese constitution officially came into force in 1926, French tutelage remained strong in the inter-war period and it was not until 1943, after Lebanon had been the scene of clashes between the Vichy forces and the Gaullists, that General Catroux proclaimed independence. There followed a difficult transition during which the British sought to reduce the influence of Paris in the region. French troops finally left the country in 1946, but France's attachment to Lebanon remained strong.

The tensions that led to the intervention of foreign troops to maintain peace in Lebanon from 1978 onwards were the result of geopolitical difficulties accumulated since the time of the mandates. As we have seen, the division of the states under French tutelage did not satisfy some of the populations who hoped for the constitution of a vast Syrian state, described as a "Greater Syria", in order to unify the Arab populations of the region. The choice of a "Little Syria" and a "Greater Lebanon" led to a lasting discontent, which was partly reflected in the Syrian policy of the 1970s. In addition to the question of territorial division, that of the respective influence of the various regional powers (Syria, Iran, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan) is also crucial. Similarly, Lebanon is one of the many theatres of confrontation between the two great powers through their allies during the Cold War. Moreover, the National Pact of 1943 introduced the principle of the confessionalization of political life by distributing political responsibilities to the different communities: the presidency of the Republic was given to the Maronites, the presidency of the Council to the Sunnis, the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies to the Shiites and the vice-presidency of the Council to the Greek Orthodox. The trigger for tension, however, is the presence on Lebanese territory of Palestinian refugees and fighters from the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) since the first Israeli-Palestinian conflict of 1948-1949, and more so after Black September in 1970.
 
 
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OPEX resources

This document is a working tool intended primarily for secondary school teachers who wish to work in depth on external operations (OPEX) in the classroom.

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Monument to the dead in OPEX

War memorial

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Somalia

Operation Oryx

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Lebanon

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Multinational Framework

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