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133-459: Modern Standard Arabic ( MSA ) or Modern Written Arabic ( MWA ) is the variety of standardized , literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in some usages also the variety of spoken Arabic that approximates this written standard. MSA is the language used in literature , academia , print and mass media , law and legislation , though it

266-697: A printing press in Egypt in 1798; it briefly disappeared after the French departure in 1801, but Muhammad Ali Pasha , who also sent students to Italy, France and England to study military and applied sciences in 1809, reintroduced it a few years later in Boulaq , Cairo . (Previously, Arabic-language presses had been introduced locally in Lebanon in 1610, and in Aleppo , Syria in 1702). The first Arabic printed newspaper

399-686: A British contingent) were deployed in Beirut after the Israeli siege of the city , to supervise the evacuation of the PLO. The civil war re-emerged in September 1982 after the assassination of Lebanese President Bachir Gemayel , an Israeli ally, and subsequent fighting. During this time a number of sectarian massacres occurred, such as in Sabra and Shatila , and in several refugee camps . The multinational force

532-520: A Bulgarian dialect. Chinese consists of hundreds of local varieties , many of which are not mutually intelligible, usually classified into seven to ten major groups, including Mandarin , Wu , Yue , Hakka and Min . Before the 20th century, most Chinese spoke only their local variety. For two millennia, formal writing had been done in Classical Chinese , a style modelled on the classics and far removed from any contemporary speech. As

665-677: A classical author, whether taken from other languages (e. g. فيلم film ) or coined from existing lexical resources (e. g. هاتف hātif   "caller" > "telephone"). Structural influence from foreign languages or from the vernaculars has also affected Modern Standard Arabic: for example, MSA texts sometimes use the format "A, B, C and D" when listing things, whereas Classical Arabic prefers "A and B and C and D", and subject-initial sentences may be more common in MSA than in Classical Arabic. For these reasons, Modern Standard Arabic

798-747: A colloquial tone. While there are differences between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, Arabic speakers tend to find these differences unimportant, and generally refer to both by the same name: Fuṣḥā Arabic or al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā ( العربية الفصحى ), meaning "the most eloquent Arabic". When the distinction is made, they do refer to MSA as Fuṣḥā al-ʻAṣr ( فصحى العصر ), meaning "Contemporary Fuṣḥā" or "Modern Fuṣḥā", and to CA as Fuṣḥā at-Turāth ( فصحى التراث ), meaning "Hereditary Fuṣḥā" or "Historical Fuṣḥā". MSA tends to use simplified sentence structures and drop more complicated ones commonly used in Classical Arabic. Some examples include reliance on verb sentences (sentences that begin with

931-411: A community (and thus may be defined in opposition to standard dialects) are called nonstandard or vernacular dialects. The standardization of a language is a continual process, because language is always changing and a language-in-use cannot be permanently standardized like the parts of a machine. Standardization may originate from a motivation to make the written form of a language more uniform, as

1064-491: A country as their first language and colloquial Arabic dialects as their second language. Modern Standard Arabic is also spoken by people of Arab descent outside the Arab world when people of Arab descent speaking different dialects communicate to each other. As there is a prestige or standard dialect of vernacular Arabic, speakers of standard colloquial dialects code-switch between these particular dialects and MSA. Classical Arabic

1197-617: A defeat to the French at the Battle of Maysalun , the kingdom was dissolved. Around the same time, at the San Remo Conference , tasked with deciding the fate of former Ottoman territories, it was determined that Syria and Lebanon would fall under French rule; Shortly afterward, the formal division of territories took place in the Treaty of Sèvres , signed a few months later. On 1 September 1920, Greater Lebanon , or Grand Liban ,

1330-679: A formula for the de-confessionalization of the Lebanese political system. The civil war ended at the end of 1990 after 16 years; it had caused massive loss of human life and property and devastated the country's economy. It is estimated that 150,000 people were killed and another 200,000 wounded. Nearly a million civilians were displaced by the war, and some never returned. Parts of Lebanon were left in ruins. The Taif Agreement has still not been implemented in full and Lebanon's political system continues to be divided along sectarian lines. Conflict between Israel and Lebanese militants continued, leading to

1463-488: A grammar, syntax, and vocabulary different from the Classical Latin spoken and written by the statesman Cicero . In Brazil, actors and journalists usually adopt an unofficial, but de facto , spoken standard of Brazilian Portuguese , originally derived from the middle-class dialects of Rio de Janeiro and Brasília , but that now encompasses educated urban pronunciations from the different speech communities in

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1596-484: A ground invasion of southern Lebanon , resulting in the 2006 Lebanon War . The conflict was officially ended by the UNSC Resolution 1701 on 14 August 2006, which ordered a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, and the disarmament of Hezbollah. Some 1,191 Lebanese and 160 Israelis were killed in the conflict. Beirut's southern suburb was heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes. In 2007,

1729-507: A large degree of autonomy despite the succession of rulers over Lebanon and Syria. The relative isolation of the Lebanese mountains meant the mountains served as a refuge in the times of religious and political crises in the Levant . As such, the mountains displayed religious diversity and the existence of several well-established sects and religions, notably, Maronites , Druze , Shiite Muslims , Ismailis , Alawites and Jacobites . After

1862-412: A nation-state, identifying and cultivating a standard variety can serve efforts to establish a shared culture among the social and economic groups who compose the new nation-state. Different national standards, derived from a continuum of dialects , might be treated as discrete languages (along with heteronomous vernacular dialects) even if there are mutually intelligible varieties among them, such as

1995-563: A national unity government was established, granting a veto to the opposition. The agreement was a victory for opposition forces, as the government caved in to all their main demands. In early January 2011, the national unity government collapsed due to growing tensions stemming from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon , which was expected to indict Hezbollah members for the Hariri assassination. The parliament elected Najib Mikati ,

2128-440: A practical measure, officials of the late imperial dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties , known as Guānhuà (literally "speech of officials"). In the early 20th century, many Chinese intellectuals argued that the country needed a standardized language. By the 1920s, Literary Chinese had been replaced as the written standard by written vernacular Chinese , which

2261-429: A prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia  – the use of two distinct varieties of the same language, usually in different social contexts. This diglossic situation facilitates code-switching in which a speaker switches back and forth between the two dialects of the language, sometimes even within the same sentence. People speak MSA as a third language if they speak other languages native to

2394-421: A real entity, but does function as set of linguistic norms observed to varying degrees in the course of usus – of how people actually speak and write the language. In practice, the language varieties identified as standard are neither uniform nor fully stabilized, especially in their spoken forms. From that perspective, the linguist Suzanne Romaine says that standard languages can be conceptually compared to

2527-563: A reduced area under closer Ottoman supervision until the late 17th century. On the death of the last Maan emir , various members of the Shihab clan ruled Mount Lebanon until 1830. While the history of Druze-Christian relations in Lebanon has generally been marked by harmony and peaceful coexistence, there were occasional periods of tension, notably during the 1860 Mount Lebanon civil war , during which around 10,000 Christians were killed by

2660-462: A regional center for finance and trade. In May 1948, Lebanon supported neighboring Arab countries in a war against Israel . While some irregular forces crossed the border and carried out minor skirmishes against Israel, it was without the support of the Lebanese government, and Lebanese troops did not officially invade. Lebanon agreed to support the forces with covering artillery fire, armored cars, volunteers and logistical support. On 5–6 June 1948,

2793-443: A relative of Uthman, serving as the governor. Mu'awiya sent forces to the coastal region of Lebanon, prompting conversions to Islam among the coastal population. However, the mountainous areas retained their Christian or other cultural practices. Despite Islam and Arabic becoming officially dominant, the population's conversion from Christianity and Syriac language was gradual. The Maronite community, in particular, managed to maintain

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2926-422: A repertoire of broadly recognizable conventions in spoken and written communications used in a society; the term implies neither a socially ideal idiom nor a culturally superior form of speech. These conventions develop from related dialects, usually by social action (ethnic and cultural unification) that elevate discourse patterns associated with perceived centres of culture, or more rarely, by deliberately defining

3059-612: A series of assassinations that resulted in the death of many prominent Lebanese figures. The assassination triggered the Cedar Revolution , a series of demonstrations which demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the establishment of an international commission to investigate the assassination. Under pressure from the West, Syria began withdrawing, and by 26 April 2005 all Syrian soldiers had returned to Syria. UNSC Resolution 1595 called for an investigation into

3192-518: A series of violent events and clashes including the Qana massacre . In May 2000, Israeli forces fully withdrew from Lebanon. Since then, 25 May is regarded by the Lebanese as the Liberation Day . The internal political situation in Lebanon significantly changed in the early 2000s. After the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the death of former president Hafez al-Assad in 2000,

3325-699: A severe famine. During the war, approximately 100,000 people in Beirut and Mount Lebanon died due to starvation. Amidst the height of the First World War , the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, a secret pact between Britain and France, delineated Lebanon and its surrounding areas as regions open to potential French influence or control. After the Allies emerged victorious in the war, the Ottoman Empire ultimately collapsed, losing control over

3458-527: A temporary embargo on the export of U.S. aircraft to Israel. In August 1981, defense minister Ariel Sharon began to draw up plans to attack PLO military infrastructure in West Beirut, where PLO headquarters and command bunkers were located. In 1982, PLO attacks from Lebanon on Israel led to an Israeli invasion , aiming to support Lebanese forces in driving out the PLO. A multinational force of American, French and Italian contingents (joined in 1983 by

3591-655: A total of 273,989,700 second language speakers in the world. They add: "In most Arab countries, only the well-educated have adequate proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic." People who are literate in Modern Standard Arabic are primarily found in countries of the Arab League . It is compulsory in schools of most of the Arab League to learn Modern Standard Arabic. People who are literate in the language are usually more so passively , as they mostly use

3724-416: A verb) instead of noun phrases and semi-sentences, as well as avoiding phrasal adjectives and accommodating feminine forms of ranks and job titles. Because MSA speech occurs in fields with novel concepts, including technical literature and scientific domains, the need for terms that did not exist in the time of CA has led to coining new terms. Arabic Language Academies had attempted to fulfill this role during

3857-503: Is becoming increasingly simpler, using less strict rules compared to CA, notably the inflection is omitted, making it closer to spoken varieties of Arabic. It depends on the speaker's knowledge and attitude to the grammar of Classical Arabic, as well as the region and the intended audience. Pronunciation of native words, loanwords, and foreign names in MSA is loose. Names can be pronounced or even spelled differently in different regions and by different speakers. Pronunciation also depends on

3990-484: Is considered normative; a few contemporary authors attempt (with varying degrees of success) to follow the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and to use the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as the Lisan al-Arab , Arabic : لِسَان الْعَرَب ). However, the exigencies of modernity have led to the adoption of numerous terms which would have been mysterious to

4123-560: Is derived from the Tuscan dialect , specifically from its Florentine variety —the Florentine influence upon early Italian literature established that dialect as base for the standard language of Italy. In particular, Italian became the language of culture for all the people of Italy, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Florentine authors like Dante Alighieri , as well as to the political and cultural significance of Florence at

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4256-581: Is despite the number of academies regulating Arabic). It can be thought of as being in a continuum between CA (the regulated language described in grammar books) and the spoken vernaculars while leaning much more to CA in its written form than its spoken form. Regional variations exist due to influence from the spoken vernaculars . TV hosts who read prepared MSA scripts, for example in Al Jazeera , are ordered to give up national or ethnic pronunciations by changing their pronunciation of certain phonemes (e.g.

4389-414: Is generally not spoken as a first language , similar to Contemporary Latin . It is a pluricentric standard language taught throughout the Arab world in formal education , differing significantly from many vernacular varieties of Arabic that are commonly spoken as mother tongues in the area; these are only partially mutually intelligible with both MSA and with each other depending on their proximity in

4522-400: Is generally treated separately in non-Arab sources. Speakers of Modern Standard Arabic do not always observe the intricate rules of Classical Arabic grammar. Modern Standard Arabic principally differs from Classical Arabic in three areas: lexicon, stylistics, and certain innovations on the periphery that are not strictly regulated by the classical authorities. On the whole, Modern Standard Arabic

4655-528: Is not homogeneous; there are authors who write in a style very close to the classical models and others who try to create new stylistic patterns. Add to this regional differences in vocabulary depending upon the influence of the local Arabic varieties and the influences of foreign languages, such as French in Africa and Lebanon or English in Egypt, Jordan, and other countries. As MSA is a revised and simplified form of Classical Arabic, MSA in terms of lexicon omitted

4788-755: Is the case of Standard English . Typically, standardization processes include efforts to stabilize the spelling of the prestige dialect, to codify usages and particular ( denotative ) meanings through formal grammars and dictionaries , and to encourage public acceptance of the codifications as intrinsically correct. In that vein, a pluricentric language has interacting standard varieties. Examples are English , French , Portuguese , German , Korean , Serbo-Croatian , Spanish , Swedish , Armenian and Mandarin Chinese . Monocentric languages, such as Russian and Japanese , have one standardized idiom. The term standard language occasionally refers also to

4921-697: Is the country's capital and largest city. Human habitation in Lebanon dates to 5000 BC. From 3200 to 539 BC, it was part of Phoenicia , a maritime empire that stretched the Mediterranean Basin . In 64 BC, the region became part of the Roman Empire , and later the Byzantine Empire . After the 7th century, it came under the rule of different caliphates , including the Rashidun , Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate . The 11th century saw

5054-628: Is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages. Additionally, some members of religious minorities recite prayers in it, as it is considered the literary language . Translated versions of the Bible which are used in Arabic-speaking countries are mostly written in MSA, aside from Classical Arabic. Muslims recite prayers in it; revised editions of numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times are also written in MSA. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides

5187-583: The Académie Française and the Royal Spanish Academy , which respectively produce Le bon français and El buen español . A standard variety can be conceptualized in two ways: (i) as the sociolect of a given socio-economic stratum or (ii) as the normative codification of a dialect , an idealized abstraction. Hence, the full standardization of a language is impractical, because a standardized dialect cannot fully function as

5320-417: The 2020 Beirut explosion , precipitated the collapse of Lebanon's currency and fomented political instability, widespread resource shortages, and high unemployment and poverty . The World Bank has defined Lebanon's economic crisis as one of the world's worst since the 19th century. Despite the country's small size, Lebanese culture is renowned both in the Arab world and globally, powered primarily by

5453-1003: The Arabic dialect continuum . Many linguists consider MSA to be distinct from Classical Arabic (CA; اللغة العربية الفصحى التراثية al-Lughah al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā at-Turāthīyah ) – the written language prior to the mid-19th century – although there is no agreed moment at which CA turned into MSA. There are also no agreed set of linguistic criteria which distinguish CA from MSA; however, MSA differs most markedly in that it either synthesizes words from Arabic roots (such as سيارة car or باخرة steamship ) or adapts words from foreign languages (such as ورشة workshop or إنترنت Internet ) to describe industrial and post-industrial life. Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages; they refer to both as Fuṣḥā Arabic or al-ʻArabīyah al-Fuṣḥā ( العربية الفصحى ), meaning "the most eloquent Arabic". They consider

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5586-617: The Bible , King Hiram of Tyre collaborated closely with Solomon , supplying cedar logs for Solomon's Temple and sending skilled workers. The Phoenicians are credited with the invention of the oldest verified alphabet , which subsequently inspired the Greek alphabet and the Latin one thereafter. In the 9th century BC, Phoenician colonies , including Carthage in present-day Tunisia and Cádiz in present-day Spain , flourished throughout

5719-653: The Hindustani language have legal status in India: Standard Hindi (one of 23 co-official national languages) and Urdu ( Pakistan 's official tongue); as a result, Hindustani is often called "Hindi-Urdu". An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ('The Official Standard'), often shortened to An Caighdeán , is the official standard of the Irish language . It was first published by the translators in Dáil Éireann in

5852-682: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the County of Tripoli as Roman Catholic Christian states along the coast. These crusader states made a lasting impact on the region, though their control was limited, and the region returned to full Muslim control after two centuries following the conquest by the Mamluks. Among the most lasting effects of the Crusades in this region was the contact between the Franks (i.e.,

5985-857: The Lebanese diaspora . Lebanon is a founding member of the United Nations and of the Arab League , and is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement , the Organization of Islamic Cooperation , the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie , and the Group of 77 . The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn ( 𐤋𐤁𐤍 ) meaning "white", apparently from its snow-capped peaks. Occurrences of

6118-472: The Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon , administered by France , which established Greater Lebanon . By 1943, Lebanon had gained independence from Free France and established a distinct form of confessionalist government , with the state's major religious groups being apportioned specific political powers . The new Lebanese state was relatively stable after independence, but this was ultimately shattered by

6251-524: The Nahr al-Bared refugee camp became the center of the 2007 Lebanon conflict between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam . At least 169 soldiers, 287 insurgents and 47 civilians were killed in the battle. Funds for the reconstruction of the area have been slow to materialize. Between 2006 and 2008, a series of protests led by groups opposed to the pro-Western Prime Minister Fouad Siniora demanded

6384-487: The North Germanic languages of Scandinavia (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish). Moreover, in political praxis, either a government or a neighbouring population might deny the cultural status of a standard language. In response to such political interference, linguists develop a standard variety from elements of the different dialects used by a society. For example, when Norway became independent from Denmark in 1814,

6517-643: The Republic of Lebanon , is a country in the Levant region of West Asia , bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west; Cyprus lies a short distance from the country's coastline. It is at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula . Lebanon has a population of more than five million and an area of 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 sq mi). Beirut

6650-481: The Roman Empire during the early spread of the faith. During the late 4th and early 5th century, a hermit named Maron established a monastic tradition focused on the importance of monotheism and asceticism near the Mediterranean mountain range known as Mount Lebanon . The monks who followed Maron spread his teachings among Lebanese in the region. These Christians became known as Maronites and moved into

6783-485: The Roman Republic (509 BC – 27 BC) and the Roman Empire (27 BC – AD 1453) was Classical Latin , the literary dialect spoken by upper classes of Roman society, whilst Vulgar Latin was the sociolect (colloquial language) spoken by the educated and uneducated peoples of the middle and the lower social classes of Roman society. The Latin language that Roman armies introduced to Gaul , Hispania , and Dacia had

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6916-725: The Tanzimat reform. After 1861 there existed an autonomous Mount Lebanon with a Christian mutasarrıf , which had been created as a homeland for the Maronites under European diplomatic pressure following the 1860 massacres. The Maronite Catholics and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the " Maronite-Druze dualism " in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. The Baalbek and Beqaa Valley and Jabal Amel

7049-618: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), charged with attempting to establish peace. Israeli forces withdrew later in 1978, but retained control of the southern region by managing a 19-kilometre-wide (12 mi) security zone along the border. These positions were held by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a Christian militia under the leadership of Major Saad Haddad backed by Israel. The Israeli Prime Minister, Likud 's Menachem Begin , compared

7182-501: The Vichy High commissioner for Syria and Lebanon, played a major role in the independence of the nation. The Vichy authorities in 1941 allowed Germany to move aircraft and supplies through Syria to Iraq where they were used against British forces. The United Kingdom, fearing that Nazi Germany would gain full control of Lebanon and Syria by pressure on the weak Vichy government, sent its army into Syria and Lebanon . After

7315-400: The imagined communities of nation and nationalism , as described by the political scientist Benedict Anderson , which indicates that linguistic standardization is the result of a society's history and sociology, and thus is not a universal phenomenon; of the approximately 7,000 contemporary spoken languages, most do not have a codified standard dialect. Politically, in the formation of

7448-450: The same dialect basis ( Štokavian ). These variants do differ slightly, as is the case with other pluricentric languages, but not to a degree that would justify considering them as different languages . The differences between the variants do not hinder mutual intelligibility and do not undermine the integrity of the system as a whole. Compared to the differences between the variants of English, German, French, Spanish, or Portuguese,

7581-480: The siege of Tyre in 332 BCE . In 64 BC, the Roman general Pompey had the region of Syria annexed into the Roman Republic . The area was then split into two Imperial Provinces under the Roman Empire , Coele-Syria and Phoenice , the latter which the land of present-day Lebanon was a part of. The region that is now Lebanon, as with the rest of Syria and much of Anatolia , became a major center of Christianity in

7714-639: The south of England .", but it may also be spoken with other accents, and in other countries still other accents are used ( Australian , Canadian , American , Scottish , etc.) The standard form of Modern Greek is based on the Southern dialects ; these dialects are spoken mainly in the Peloponnese , the Ionian Islands , Attica , Crete and the Cyclades . Two standardized registers of

7847-573: The 1950s. As of September 2013, the first major revision of the Caighdeán Oifigiúil is available, both online and in print. Among the changes to be found in the revised version are, for example, various attempts to bring the recommendations of the Caighdeán closer to the spoken dialect of Gaeltacht speakers, including allowing further use of the nominative case where the genitive would historically have been found. Standard Italian

7980-667: The Arabic language against linguistic corruption. It was the lingua franca across the Middle East and North Africa during classic times and in Al-Andalus before classic times. Napoleon 's campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) is generally considered to be the starting point of the modern period of the Arabic language, when the intensity of contacts between the Western world and Arabic culture increased. Napoleon introduced

8113-651: The Children director estimated that 200,000–300,000 children were need of assistance and were living almost entirely on bread, which was subsidized by the government. Those who could relied on foreign assistance. Hezbollah was receiving about $ 3–5 million a month from Iran . In September 1988, the Parliament failed to elect a successor to President Gemayel as a result of differences between the Christians, Muslims, and Syrians. The Arab League Summit of May 1989 led to

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8246-402: The Druze. Shortly afterwards, the Emirate of Mount Lebanon , which lasted about 400 years, was replaced by the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , as a result of a European-Ottoman treaty called the Règlement Organique . The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, Arabic : متصرفية جبل لبنان ; Turkish : Cebel-i Lübnan Mutasarrıflığı ) was one of the Ottoman Empire 's subdivisions following

8379-599: The French mandate for both was legally terminated on that date and full independence attained. The last French troops withdrew in December 1946. Lebanon's unwritten National Pact of 1943 required that its president be Maronite Christian, its speaker of the parliament to be a Shia Muslim , its prime minister be Sunni Muslim , and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and the Deputy Prime Minister be Greek Orthodox . Lebanon's history since independence has been marked by alternating periods of political stability and turmoil interspersed with prosperity built on Beirut 's position as

8512-427: The French mandate may be said to have been terminated without any formal action on the part of the League of Nations or its successor the United Nations . The mandate was ended by the declaration of the mandatory power, and of the new states themselves, of their independence, followed by a process of piecemeal unconditional recognition by other powers, culminating in formal admission to the United Nations. Article 78 of

8645-421: The French) and the Maronites. Unlike most other Christian communities in the Eastern Mediterranean , who swore allegiance to Constantinople or other local patriarchs, the Maronites proclaimed allegiance to the Pope in Rome. As such the Franks saw them as Roman Catholic brethren. These initial contacts led to centuries of support for the Maronites from France and Italy, even after the fall of the Crusader states in

8778-444: The Haifa – Tel-Aviv road, shooting at passing vehicles in what became known as the Coastal Road massacre . They killed 37 and wounded 76 Israelis before being killed in a firefight with Israeli forces. Israel invaded Lebanon four days later in Operation Litani . The Israeli Army occupied most of the area south of the Litani River . The UN Security Council passed Resolution 425 calling for immediate Israeli withdrawal and creating

8911-447: The Islamic conquest, Mediterranean trade declined for three centuries due to conflicts with the Byzantines. The ports of Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, and Tripoli struggled to recover, sustaining small populations under Umayyad and Abbasid rule. Christians and Jews were often obligated to pay the jizya , or poll tax levied on non-Muslims. During the 980s, the Fatimid Caliphate took control of the Levant, including Mount Lebanon, resulting in

9044-689: The Lebanese army – led by the then Minister of National Defense , Emir Majid Arslan – captured Al-Malkiyya . This was Lebanon's only success in the war. 100,000 Palestinians fled to Lebanon because of the war. Israel did not permit their return after the cease-fire. As of 2017, between 174,000 and 450,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon with about half in refugee camps (although these are often decades old and resemble neighborhoods). Often Palestinians are legally barred from owning property or performing certain occupations. According to Human Rights Watch , Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in "appalling social and economic conditions." In 1958, during

9177-410: The Maronites and other Lebanese factions. In 1975, following increasing sectarian tensions, largely boosted by Palestinian militant relocation into South Lebanon, a full-scale civil war broke out in Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War pitted a coalition of Christian groups against the joint forces of the PLO , left-wing Druze and Muslim militias. In June 1976, Lebanese President Élias Sarkis asked for

9310-417: The Mediterranean. Subsequently, foreign powers, starting with the Neo-Assyrian Empire , imposed tribute and attacked non-compliant cities. The Neo-Babylonian Empire took control in the 6th century BC. In 539 BC, The cities of Phoenicia were then incorporated into the Achaemenid Empire by Cyrus the Great . The Phoenician city-states were later incorporated into the empire of Alexander the Great following

9443-524: The Muslim Caliphs and the people became more fully absorbed by the Arab culture. Following the fall of Roman Anatolia to the Muslim Turks, the Byzantines put out a call to the Pope in Rome for assistance in the 11th century. The result was a series of wars known as the Crusades launched by the Franks from Western Europe to reclaim the former Byzantine Christian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially Syria and Palestine (the Levant ). The First Crusade succeeded in temporarily establishing

9576-457: The Quran in its original language. Written Classical Arabic underwent fundamental changes during the early Islamic era, adding dots to distinguish similarly written letters and adding the tashkīl (diacritical markings that guide pronunciation) by scholars such as Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali and Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi to preserve the correct form and pronunciation of the Quran and to defend

9709-458: The Shia cause in the Lebanese civil war, ending Western presence in Lebanon, and establishing a Shiite Khomeinist Islamic state . In the late 1980s, as Amine Gemayel ’s second term as president drew to an end, the Lebanese pound collapsed. At the end of 1987 US$ 1 was worth £L500. This meant the legal minimum wage was worth just $ 17 a month. Most goods in shops were priced in dollars. A Save

9842-498: The Syrian Army to intervene on the side of the Christians and help restore peace. In October 1976 the Arab League agreed to establish a predominantly Syrian Arab Deterrent Force , which was charged with restoring calm. PLO attacks from Lebanon into Israel in 1977 and 1978 escalated tensions between the countries. On 11 March 1978, 11 Fatah fighters landed on a beach in northern Israel and hijacked two buses full of passengers on

9975-503: The Syrian military presence faced criticism and resistance from the Lebanese population. On 14 February 2005, former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated in a car bomb explosion. Leaders of the March 14 Alliance accused Syria of the attack, while Syria and the March 8 Alliance claimed that Israel was behind the assassination. The Hariri assassination marked the beginning of

10108-713: The UN Charter ended the status of tutelage for any member state: "The trusteeship system shall not apply to territories which have become Members of the United Nations, relationship among which shall be based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality." So when the UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, after ratification of the United Nations Charter by the five permanent members , as both Syria and Lebanon were founding member states,

10241-665: The area. Soon after the war, Patriarch Elias Peter Hoayek , representing the Maronite Christians, successfully campaigned for an expanded territory at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference , also including areas with significant Muslim and Druze populations in addition to the Christian-dominated Mount Lebanon. In 1920, King Faisal I proclaimed the Arab Kingdom of Syria 's independence and asserted control over Lebanon. However, following

10374-581: The assassination. The United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission published preliminary findings on 20 October 2005 in the Mehlis report , which cited indications that the assassination was organized by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services. On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah launched a series of rocket attacks and raids into Israeli territory, where they killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon, and

10507-517: The capital of Minas Gerais , Belo Horizonte , is the accent from Brazilian Portuguese that is the nearest to sotaque neutro . European and African dialects have differing realizations of /ʁ/ than Brazilian dialects, with the former using [ʁ] and [r] and the latter using [x] , [h] , or [χ] . Four standard variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian are spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Montenegro , and Serbia . They all have

10640-479: The creation of a national unity government, over which the mostly Shia opposition groups would have veto power. When Émile Lahoud 's presidential term ended in October 2007, the opposition refused to vote for a successor unless a power-sharing deal was reached, leaving Lebanon without a president. On 9 May 2008, Hezbollah and Amal forces, sparked by a government declaration that Hezbollah's communications network

10773-511: The distinctions between the variants of Serbo-Croatian are less significant. Nonetheless, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro have all named the language differently in their constitutions. In Somalia , Northern Somali (or North-Central Somali) forms the basis for Standard Somali , particularly the Mudug dialect of the northern Darod clan. Northern Central Somali has frequently been used by famous Somali poets as well as

10906-477: The east, their Standard Macedonian was based upon vernaculars from the west of the republic, which were the dialects most linguistically different from standard Bulgarian , the previous linguistic norm used in that region of the Balkan peninsula . Although Macedonian functions as the standard language of the Republic of North Macedonia , nonetheless, for political and cultural reasons, Bulgarians treat Macedonian as

11039-482: The entirety of a language that includes a standardized form as one of its varieties. In Europe, a standardized written language is sometimes identified with the German word Schriftsprache (written language). The term literary language is occasionally used as a synonym for standard language , a naming convention still prevalent in the linguistic traditions of eastern Europe. In contemporary linguistic usage,

11172-720: The establishment of Crusader states , which fell to the Ayyubids and the Mamluks , and eventually the Ottomans . Under Ottoman ruler Abdulmejid I , the first Lebanese proto-state, the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate , was established in the 19th century as a home for Maronite Christians , in the Tanzimat period. After the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire following World War I , Lebanon came under

11305-498: The fighting ended in Lebanon, General Charles de Gaulle visited the area. Under political pressure from both inside and outside Lebanon, de Gaulle recognized the independence of Lebanon. On 26 November 1941, General Georges Catroux announced that Lebanon would become independent under the authority of the Free French government. Elections were held in 1943 and on 8 November 1943 the new Lebanese government unilaterally abolished

11438-538: The formation of a Saudi–Moroccan–Algerian committee to solve the crisis. On 16 September 1989 the committee issued a peace plan which was accepted by all. A ceasefire was established, the ports and airports were re-opened and refugees began to return. In the same month, the Lebanese Parliament agreed to the Taif Agreement , which included an outline timetable for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and

11571-745: The grounds that the cease-fire was only relevant to Lebanon. In April 1980 the killing of two UNIFIL soldiers and the injuring of a third by the South Lebanon Army, near At Tiri , in the buffer zone led to the At Tiri incident . On 17 July 1981, Israeli aircraft bombed multi-story apartment buildings in Beirut that contained offices of PLO associated groups. The Lebanese delegate to the United Nations Security Council claimed that 300 civilians had been killed and 800 wounded. The bombing led to worldwide condemnation, and

11704-627: The language in reading and writing, not in speaking. In Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, French is the language of higher education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), while in the Gulf region it is English. Several reports mentioned that the use of Modern Standard Arabic is on the decline in the Arab world, especially in Gulf countries , such as the United Arab Emirates , where foreign workers make up more than 80% of

11837-416: The language. Within a language community, standardization usually begins with a particular variety being selected (often towards a goal of further linguistic uniformity), accepted by influential people, socially and culturally spread, established in opposition to competitor varieties, maintained, increasingly used in diverse contexts, and assigned a high social status as a result of the variety being linked to

11970-492: The last months of President Camille Chamoun 's term, an insurrection broke out, instigated by Lebanese Muslims who wanted to make Lebanon a member of the United Arab Republic . Chamoun requested assistance, and 5,000 United States Marines were briefly dispatched to Beirut on 15 July. After the crisis, a new government was formed, led by the popular former general Fouad Chehab . Until the early 1970s, Lebanon

12103-509: The linguistic authority, as in the case of specialist terminology ; moreover, the standardization of spoken forms is oriented towards the codified standard. Historically, a standard language arises in two ways: (i) in the case of Standard English , linguistic standardization occurs informally and piecemeal, without formal government intervention; (ii) in the cases of the French and Spanish languages, linguistic standardization occurs formally, directed by prescriptive language institutions, such as

12236-412: The linguistic norm of the upper class , composed of the peerage and the gentry . Socially, the accent of the spoken version of the standard language then indicated that the speaker was a man or a woman possessed of a good education, and thus of high social prestige . In England and Wales, Standard English is usually associated with Received Pronunciation , "the standard accent of English as spoken in

12369-535: The mandate. The French reacted by imprisoning the new government. Lebanese nationalists declared a provisional government, and the British diplomatically intervened on their behalf. In the face of intense British pressure and protests by Lebanese nationalists, the French reluctantly released the government officials on 22 November 1943, and accepted the independence of Lebanon. Following the end of World War II in Europe

12502-443: The many regional dialects derived from Classical Arabic spoken daily across the region and learned as a first language , and as second language if people speak other languages native to their particular country. They are not normally written, although a certain amount of literature (particularly plays and poetry, including songs) exists in many of them. Literary Arabic (MSA) is the official language of all Arab League countries and

12635-460: The most successful people. As a sociological effect of these processes, most users of a standard dialect—and many users of other dialects of the same language—come to believe that the standard is inherently superior to, or consider it the linguistic baseline against which to judge, the other dialects. However, such beliefs are firmly rooted in social perceptions rather than any objective evaluation. Any varieties that do not carry high social status in

12768-665: The mountain range) that was introduced with the Ottoman reforms of 1861 as the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate ( Arabic : متصرفية جبل لبنان ; Turkish : Cebel-i Lübnan Mutasarrıflığı ), continued in the name of Greater Lebanon ( Arabic : دولة لبنان الكبير Dawlat Lubnān al-Kabīr ; French : État du Grand Liban ) in 1920, and eventually in the name of the sovereign Republic of Lebanon ( Arabic : الجمهورية اللبنانية al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah ) upon its independence in 1943. The Natufian culture

12901-731: The mountains to avoid religious persecution by Roman authorities. During the frequent Roman–Persian Wars that lasted for many centuries, the Sasanian Empire occupied what is now Lebanon from 619 till 629. During the 7th century, Muslims conquered Syria from the Byzantines, incorporating the region, including modern-day Lebanon, under the Islamic Caliphate . In the era of Uthman 's caliphate (644–656), Islam gained significant influence in Damascus, led by Mu'awiya ,

13034-526: 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 Egypt as rmnn ( Ancient Egyptian : 𓂋𓏠𓈖𓈖𓈉 ; it had no letter corresponding to l ). The name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible as לְבָנוֹן Ləḇānon . Lebanon as the name of an administrative unit (as opposed to

13167-425: The norms of standard language with selected linguistic features drawn from the existing dialects, as in the case of Modern Hebrew . Either course of events typically results in a relatively fixed orthography codified in grammars and normative dictionaries , in which users can also sometimes find illustrative examples drawn from literary, legal, or religious texts. Whether grammars and dictionaries are created by

13300-490: The obsolete words used in Classical Arabic. As diglossia is involved, various Arabic dialects freely borrow words from MSA. This situation is similar to Romance languages , wherein scores of words were borrowed directly from formal Latin (most literate Romance speakers were also literate in Latin); educated speakers of standard colloquial dialects speak in this kind of communication. Reading out loud in MSA for various reasons

13433-509: The official languages of Singapore (as Huáyǔ "Chinese language"). Standard Chinese now dominates public life, and is much more widely studied than any other variety of Chinese . In the United Kingdom, the standard language is British English , which is based upon the language of the medieval court of Chancery of England and Wales. In the late-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Standard English became established as

13566-625: The only written language was Danish. Different Norwegian dialects were spoken in rural districts and provincial cities, but people with higher education and upper-class urban people spoke "Danish with a Norwegian pronunciation". Based upon the bourgeois speech of the capital Oslo (Christiania) and other major cities, several orthographic reforms, notably in 1907 and 1917, resulted in the official standard Riksmål , in 1929 renamed Bokmål ('book tongue'). The philologist Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) considered urban and upper-class Dano-Norwegian too similar to Danish, so he developed Landsmål ('country tongue'),

13699-689: The outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). Lebanon was also subjugated by two military occupations: Syria from 1976 to 2005 and Israel from 1985 to 2000 . Lebanon has been the scene of several conflicts with Israel , of which the ongoing war marks the fourth Israeli invasion of it since 1978. Lebanon is a developing country , ranked 112th on the Human Development Index . It has been classified as an upper-middle-income state . The Lebanese liquidity crisis , coupled with nationwide corruption and disasters such as

13832-782: The paramount emir of the Druze in the Shouf region. Eventually, he was appointed Sanjak-bey , overseeing various Ottoman sub-provinces and tax collection. Expanding his influence extensively, he even constructed a fort in Palmyra . However, this expansion raised concerns for Ottoman Sultan Murad IV, leading to a punitive expedition in 1633. Fakhr al-Din II was captured, imprisoned for two years, and subsequently executed in April 1635, along with one of his sons. Surviving members of his family continued to govern

13965-484: The person's education, linguistic knowledge, and abilities. There may be sounds used which are missing in Classical Arabic but exist in colloquial varieties. For example, the consonants / v / , / p / , / t͡ʃ / (often realized as [ t ] + [ ʃ ] ) (which may or may not be written with special letters) and the vowels [ o ] , [ e ] (both short and long). There are no special letters in Arabic to distinguish between [e~i] and [o~u] pairs but

14098-657: The plight of the Christian minority in southern Lebanon (then about 5% of the population in SLA territory) to that of European Jews during World War II. The PLO routinely attacked Israel during the period of the cease-fire, with over 270 documented attacks. People in Galilee regularly had to leave their homes during these shellings. Documents captured in PLO headquarters after the invasion showed they had come from Lebanon. PLO leader Yasser Arafat refused to condemn these attacks on

14231-582: The political elite, and thus has the most prestige among other Somali dialects. The Unicode Common Locale Data Repository uses 001 as the region subtag for a standardized form such as ar-001 for Modern Standard Arabic . Lebanon 33°50′N 35°50′E  /  33.833°N 35.833°E  / 33.833; 35.833 Lebanon ( / ˈ l ɛ b ə n ɒ n , - n ə n / LEB -ə-non, -⁠nən ; Arabic : لُبْنَان , romanized :  Lubnān , local pronunciation: [lɪbˈneːn] ), officially

14364-777: The population and where English has become the lingua franca of commerce, media, and education. Content in Modern Standard Arabic is also under-represented online and in literature. According to the 2017 Arab Youth Survey done by polling firm PSB Insights , 24% of respondents (young urban Arabs aged 18 to 24) agreed with the statement: "On a daily basis, I use English more than Arabic." They were 56% in GCC countries . The New York Times reported that most Arab students of Northwestern University in Qatar and Georgetown University in Qatar did not have "professional proficiency" in Modern Standard Arabic. Standard language In linguistics ,

14497-496: The process of a variety becoming organized into a standard, for instance by being widely expounded in grammar books or other reference works, and also the process of making people's language usage conform to that standard, is called standardization . Typically, the varieties that undergo standardization are those associated with centres of commerce and government, used frequently by educated people and in news broadcasting , and taught widely in schools and to non-native learners of

14630-756: The realization of the Classical jīm ج as [ ɡ ] by Egyptians), though other traits may show the speaker's region, such as the stress and the exact value of vowels and the pronunciation of other consonants. People who speak MSA also mix vernacular and Classical in pronunciation, words, and grammatical forms. Classical/vernacular mixing in formal writing can also be found (e.g., in some Egyptian newspaper editorials); others are written in Modern Standard/vernacular mixing, including entertainment news. According to Ethnologue , there are no native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic, but

14763-399: The region. In 1516, Lebanon became part of the Ottoman Empire , with governance administered indirectly through local emirs . Lebanon's area was organized into provinces: Northern and Southern Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, Baalbek and Beqaa Valley, and Jabal Amil . In 1590, Druze tribal leader Fakhr al-Din II succeeded Korkmaz in southern Mount Lebanon and quickly asserted his authority as

14896-458: The rejuvenation of Mediterranean trade along the Lebanese coast through renewed connections with Byzantium and Italy. This resurgence saw Tripoli and Tyre flourishing well into the 11th century, focusing on exports such as textiles, sugar, and glassware. During the 11th century, the Druze religion emerged from a branch of Shia Islam . The new religion gained followers in the southern portion of Mount Lebanon. The southern portion of Mount Lebanon

15029-529: The second half of the 20th century with neologisms with Arab roots, but MSA typically borrows terms from other languages to coin new terminology. MSA includes two sounds not present in CA, namely / p / and / v / , which occur in loanwords. MSA is loosely uniform across the Middle East as it is based on the convention of Arabic speakers rather than being a regulated language which rules are followed (that

15162-462: The shore of the Mediterranean Sea over 7,000 years ago. Lebanon was part of northern Canaan , and consequently became the homeland of Canaanite descendants, the Phoenicians , a seafaring people based in the coastal strip of the northern Levant who spread across the Mediterranean in the first millennium BC. The most prominent Phoenician cities were Byblos , Sidon and Tyre . According to

15295-505: The sounds o and e (short and long) exist in the colloquial varieties of Arabic and some foreign words in MSA. Modern Standard Arabic, like Classical Arabic before it, has three pairs of long and short vowels: /a/ , /i/ , and /u/ : * Footnote: although not part of Standard Arabic phonology, the vowels /eː/ and /oː/ are perceived as separate phonemes in most of modern Arabic dialects and they are used when speaking Modern Standard Arabic as part of foreign words or when speaking it with

15428-557: The southeast. This artificial accent is called sotaque neutro . In that standard, ⟨s⟩ represents the phoneme /s/ when it appears at the end of a syllable (whereas in Rio de Janeiro this represents /ʃ/ ) and the rhotic consonant spelled ⟨r⟩ is pronounced [h] in the same situation (whereas in São Paulo this is usually an alveolar flap or trill ). The sociolect of prestige of mineiro spoken in

15561-580: The standard based upon the dialects of western Norway. In 1885 the Storting (parliament) declared both forms official and equal. In 1929 it was officially renamed Nynorsk (New Norwegian). Likewise, in Yugoslavia (1945–1992), when the Socialist Republic of Macedonia (1963–1991) developed their national language from the dialect continuum demarcated by Serbia to the north and Bulgaria to

15694-415: The standard usually functions as a normalizing reference for speech and writing. In educational contexts, it usually informs the version of the language taught to non-native learners. In those ways, the standard variety acquires social prestige and greater functional importance than nonstandard dialects , which depend upon or are heteronomous with respect to the standard idiom. Standard usage serves as

15827-435: The state or by private citizens (e.g. Webster's Dictionary ), some users regard such linguistic codifications as authoritative for correcting the spoken and written forms of the language. Effects of such codifications include slowing the pace of diachronic change in the standardized variety and affording a basis for further linguistic development ( Ausbau ). In the practices of broadcasting and of official communications,

15960-432: The terms standard dialect and standard variety are neutral synonyms for the term standard language , usages which indicate that the standard language is one of many dialects and varieties of a language, rather than the totality of the language, whilst minimizing the negative implication of social subordination that the standard is the only form worthy of the label "language". The term standard language identifies

16093-481: The time and the fact that it was linguistically an intermediate between the northern and the southern Italian dialects. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states , and after the Italian unification it became the national language of the Kingdom of Italy . Modern Standard Italian 's lexicon has been deeply influenced by almost all regional languages of Italy . The standard language in

16226-592: The two forms to be two historical periods of one language. When the distinction is made, they do refer to MSA as Fuṣḥā al-ʻAṣr ( فصحى العصر ), meaning "Contemporary Fuṣḥā" or "Modern Fuṣḥā", and to CA as Fuṣḥā at-Turāth ( فصحى التراث ), meaning "Hereditary Fuṣḥā" or "Historical Fuṣḥā". Classical Arabic , also known as Quranic Arabic, is the language used in the Quran as well as in numerous literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times (7th to 9th centuries). Many Muslims study Classical Arabic in order to read

16359-589: Was based on Mandarin dialects. In the 1930s, Standard Chinese was adopted, with its pronunciation based on the Beijing dialect , but with vocabulary also drawn from other Mandarin varieties and its syntax based on the written vernacular. It is the official spoken language of the People's Republic of China (where it is called Pǔtōnghuà "common speech"), the de facto official language of the Republic of China governing Taiwan (as Guóyǔ "national language") and one of

16492-679: Was dubbed "the Switzerland of the Middle East" for its unique status as both a snow-capped holiday destination and secure banking hub for Gulf Arabs . Beirut was also nicknamed "the Paris of the Middle East." With the 1970 defeat of the PLO in Jordan, many Palestinian militants relocated to Lebanon, increasing their armed campaign against Israel. The relocation of Palestinian bases also led to increasing sectarian tensions between Palestinians versus

16625-442: Was established in 1828: the bilingual Turkish-Arabic Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya had great influence in the formation of Modern Standard Arabic. It was followed by Al-Ahram (1875) and al-Muqattam (1889). The Western–Arabic contacts and technological developments in especially the newspaper industry indirectly caused the revival of Arabic literature, or Nahda , in the late 19th and early 20th century. Another important development

16758-541: Was illegal, seized western Beirut , the most important Sunni center in Lebanon, leading to an intrastate military conflict . The Lebanese government denounced the violence as a coup attempt. At least 62 people died in the resulting clashes between pro-government and opposition militias. On 21 May 2008, the signing of the Doha Agreement ended the fighting. As part of the accord, which ended 18 months of political paralysis, Michel Suleiman became president and

16891-456: Was later ratified in July 1922. The Lebanese Republic was officially proclaimed on 1 September 1926, with the adoption of a constitution inspired by the French constitution on 23 May of the same year. While a Lebanese government was established, the country continued to be under French control. Lebanon gained a measure of independence while France was occupied by Germany. General Henri Dentz ,

17024-459: Was officially established under French control as a League of Nations Mandate , following the terms outlined in the proposed Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon . Greater Lebanon united the regions of Mount Lebanon, North Lebanon, South Lebanon, and the Bekaa, with Beirut as its designated capital. These specified boundaries later evolved into the present-day configuration of Lebanon. This arrangement

17157-658: Was ruled by Druze feudal families till the early 14th century. The Maronite population increased gradually in Northern Mount Lebanon and the Druze have remained in Southern Mount Lebanon until the modern era. Keserwan , Jabal Amel and the Beqaa Valley was ruled by Shia feudal families under the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire. Major cities on the coast, Sidon , Tyre , Acre , Tripoli , Beirut , and others, were directly administered by

17290-611: Was ruled intermittently by various Shia feudal families, especially the Al Ali Alsagheer in Jabal Amel that remained in power until 1865 when Ottomans took direct ruling of the region. Youssef Bey Karam , a Lebanese nationalist played an influential role in Lebanon's independence during this era. Lebanon experienced profound devastation in the First World War when the Ottoman army assumed direct control, disrupting supplies and confiscating animals, ultimately leading to

17423-588: Was the establishment of Arabic-only schools in reaction against the Turkification of Arabic-majority areas under Ottoman rule . Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the literary standard across the Middle East , North Africa and Horn of Africa , and is one of the six official languages of the United Nations . Most printed material in the Arab League —including most books, newspapers, magazines, official documents, and reading primers for small children—is written in MSA. "Colloquial" Arabic refers to

17556-551: Was the first to become sedentary at around 12000 BC. Evidence of early settlement in Lebanon was found in Byblos , considered among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The evidence dates back to earlier than 5000 BC. Archaeologists discovered remnants of prehistoric huts with crushed limestone floors, primitive weapons, and burial jars left by the Neolithic and Chalcolithic fishing communities who lived on

17689-710: Was withdrawn in the spring of 1984, following a devastating bombing attack during the previous year. During the early 1980s, Hezbollah , a Shiite Islamist militant group and political party, came into existence through the efforts of Shiite clerics who were financially supported and trained by Iran . Arising in the aftermath of the 1982 war and drawing inspiration from the Islamic Revolution in Iran , Hezbollah actively engaged in combat against Israel as well as suicide attacks , car bombings and assassinations. Their objectives encompassed eliminating Israel, fighting for

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