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Lebanon
A small, mountainous country, Lebanon was under French mandate until independence in 1943. Its population is a mixture of Christian sects, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Druze and others, having been a refuge for the region's persecuted minorities.
Government structures are divided between the various groups. Lebanon has also seen several large influxes of Palestinian refugees, most of whom have limited legal status.
From 1975 until the early 1990s Lebanon suffered a bloody civil war in which regional powers - particularly Israel, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organisation - used the country as a battlefield for their own conflicts.
Syrian troops moved in shortly after the war started. Israeli troops invaded in 1978 and again in 1982 before pulling back to a self-declared "security zone" in the south from which they withdrew in May 2000.
Syria exerts considerable political clout in Lebanon, although it withdrew its troops in 2005, ending a 29-year military presence.
This followed the assassination in Beirut of former prime minister Rafik Hariri . Lebanese groups then in opposition accused Syria of involvement; Damascus denied the charge. Huge pro- and anti-Syria rallies were held in Beirut, triggering the government's downfall and the Syrian pullout. The Hariri case appeared to have taken a major step forward on 1 March 2009 when an international court into the killing opened in the Hague.
By autumn 2010, the issuing of indictments over the Hariri killing was thought to be imminent, raising fears that if the UN-led tribunal accuses the Syrian- and Iranian-backed militant Shia group Hezbollah of involvement in his murder, this could spark off a new round of sectarian conflict.
The UN has demanded the dismantling of all armed groups in Lebanon, including Palestinian militias and the military wing of Hezbollah, which controls much of southern Lebanon.
When Hezbollah militia seized two Israeli soldiers in a raid in July 2006, Israel responded with a 34-day military offensive and a blockade. Around 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, were killed. The damage to civilian infrastructure was wide-ranging.
International peacekeepers were drafted in to help police a UN-brokered ceasefire. But Hezbollah's leader has rejected calls for the movement to disarm and political divisions in Beirut cloud the issue of what should be done about the group's military presence in the south.
With its high literacy rate and traditional mercantile culture, Lebanon has traditionally been an important commercial hub for the Middle East.
Facts
· Full name: The Lebanese Republic
· Population: 4.3 million (UN, 2010)
· Capital: Beirut
· Area: 10,452 sq km (4,036 sq miles)
· Major language: Arabic
· Major religions: Islam, Christianity
· Life expectancy: 71 years (men), 75 years (women) (UN)
· Monetary unit: 1 Lebanese pound (or lira) = 100 piastres
· Main exports: Foodstuffs and tobacco
· GNI per capita: US $7,970 (World Bank, 2009)
· Internet domain: .lb
· International dialling code: +961
Leaders
President: Michel Suleiman
The Lebanese parliament finally elected General Michel Suleiman as president in May 2008 after six months of political stalemate that followed the departure of the previous president, Emile Lahoud, in November 2007.
The agreement that paved the way for his election ended some of the worst factional violence since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
As mounting clashes raised fears of a renewed civil war, the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition agreed on General Suleiman - the head of the country's armed forces - as a compromise candidate.
On taking office, the new president hailed the opening of a new phase in Lebanese history, saying that his fellow countrymen had "refused to succumb to self-destruction".
General Suleiman stood unopposed for the presidency, and is widely seen as a unifying figure, whose apparent neutrality has earned him the respect of both sides of the political divide. He is credited with having kept the army on the sidelines in times of political crisis.
He is a Maronite Christian, and so his election also met the requirement of Lebanon's complex power-sharing system that the presidency should be held by a member of that sect.
Prime minister: Saad Hariri (asked to stay on as caretaker prime minister when his coalition collapsed in January 2011)
Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, was asked to form a government by President Michel Suleiman following parliamentary elections in June 2009.
The pro-Western March 14 alliance led by Mr Hariri won 71 of parliament's 128 seats in the elections, while the rival March 8 alliance, led by Hezbollah and backed by Syria and Iran, secured 57.
Mr Hariri spent more than four months negotiating with opposition groups on the assignment of portfolios in a government of national unity. Under the agreement finally reached in November, 15 ministers were appointed from the majority bloc made up of Mr Hariri's Sunni Muslim Future movement and its Maronite Christian and Druze allies.
Hezbollah was given two cabinet posts, while its allies - the Shia Amal movement and the bloc of the Maronite Christian leader and former general Michel Aoun - were awarded another eight.
The five remaining ministers in the 30-member unity government were nominated by President Suleiman. These ministers hold the balance of power and make it possible for Mr Hariri's supporters in the cabinet to gain a simple majority.
The protracted deadlock over the formation of the new government had given rise to fears of renewed instability, and Mr Hariri hailed the eventual reaching of a compromise deal by declaring that it "opened a new page, which we hope will be one of agreement and co-operation".
Nevertheless, the Hariri-led government has been persistently dogged by tensions that in the autumn of 2010 brought it close to collapse, with both sides accusing the other of seeking to extend their grip on power by unconstitutional means.