There are many factors which have lead to the current state of Lebanon, a country which is now war torn and the disastrous conditions have affected everything within the country. A major factor that has significantly affected Lebanon is the 2006 Lebanon War. This had a tremendous affect on residents’ livelihoods through bringing down access to services, Infrastructure and natural resources. The everlasting political tension between these two countries had finally succumbed to a war that was inevitable.
The US Department of State wrote in its Dec. 1, 2011 article "Background Note: Lebanon,"
"On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel, killed three Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two others, precipitating a war with Israel. Israeli air strikes hit Hezbollah positions in the south and strategic targets throughout Lebanon, and Israeli ground forces moved against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah resisted the ground attack and fired thousands of rockets at civilian targets in Israel. By the time the war ended on August 14, an estimated 1,200 Lebanese civilians and hundreds of Hezbollah fighters had died, along with 119 Israeli military and 43 Israeli civilians. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, provided for a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal and lifting of blockades, disarming of Hezbollah and other militias, and a ban on unauthorized weapons transfers into Lebanon. UNSCR 1701 also significantly strengthened UNIFIL's mandate and authorized its enlargement from about 2,000 up to a maximum of 15,000. Bolstered by UNIFIL, which by the beginning of 2007 had more than 11,000 personnel, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployed to southern Lebanon and the border with Israel for the first time in almost four decades.
The war temporarily or permanently displaced roughly one-quarter of Lebanon's population and caused enormous damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The country, which was already seriously indebted, suffered roughly $5 billion in damages and financial losses."
The US Department of State wrote in its Dec. 1, 2011 article "Background Note: Lebanon,"
"On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel, killed three Israeli soldiers, and kidnapped two others, precipitating a war with Israel. Israeli air strikes hit Hezbollah positions in the south and strategic targets throughout Lebanon, and Israeli ground forces moved against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah resisted the ground attack and fired thousands of rockets at civilian targets in Israel. By the time the war ended on August 14, an estimated 1,200 Lebanese civilians and hundreds of Hezbollah fighters had died, along with 119 Israeli military and 43 Israeli civilians. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war, provided for a ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal and lifting of blockades, disarming of Hezbollah and other militias, and a ban on unauthorized weapons transfers into Lebanon. UNSCR 1701 also significantly strengthened UNIFIL's mandate and authorized its enlargement from about 2,000 up to a maximum of 15,000. Bolstered by UNIFIL, which by the beginning of 2007 had more than 11,000 personnel, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) deployed to southern Lebanon and the border with Israel for the first time in almost four decades.
The war temporarily or permanently displaced roughly one-quarter of Lebanon's population and caused enormous damage to homes, businesses, and infrastructure. The country, which was already seriously indebted, suffered roughly $5 billion in damages and financial losses."
The 2 cartograms show the number of people in the armed forces in 1985 and 2002, during 1985 there were over 29million people working in armed forces and 33% of these people were from the Middle East and Russian federation. From the cartograms we can see that the Middle East which coloured in the lighter green hasn’t changed much since instead different countries within the Middle East have acquired additional military strength but overall the size is similar. This shows that the armed forces in the Middle East have continually been prominent in society. It is probably because of the high number of armed forces that have caused many conflicts within the Middle East and tensions amongst the countries. In 2002 Israel was ranked 2 for having the highest members of the armed forces per 100 people which was higher than the amount in 1985; this is probably due to the anti-Zionist views of Arab political parties like Hezbollah of Lebanon. Also the Lebanese armed forces that weren’t in the top 20 of members of the armed forces in 1985 per 1000 people have dramatically risen to 4th place in the 2002 cartogram. This is probably because of the rising forces of Israel and in case of another war like the Lebanon war of 1982, and there was eventually another conflict between these two countries in 2006. Furthermore the number of people in armed forces worldwide in 2002 was two thirds of those in the armed forces in 1985. From the column graph of 1985 we can see that the armed forces in the middle east is significantly higher than any other area of the world, in the 2002 we can see that the other countries have become closer to the Middle East not because their forces have expanded but instead the Middle Eastern armed forces have dramatically dropped by more than half its forces depleted.
This war was also called the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War because it was mainly the political party of Hezbollah and their military who initially attacked Israel by firing rockets at the Israeli border and killed 3 soldiers. There was a series of attacks from both sides until the war finally ended 8 September 2006. There were a multitude of casualties from both sides, however Lebanon suffered the most. It is estimated that between 1100 and 1200 Lebanese civilians were killed by Israel and 4409 were injured. While in Israel 43 civilians died, and over 2000 were wounded. The amount of casualties were immense especially the toll on civilians and this outbreaks of violence of such a huge scale lead to even more doubt of the government which lead to more outbreaks of violence within Lebanon. Political divisions returned sharply, as each group trying to capitalize on the war for political gain. With the continued refusal of both sides to make any concessions, these gains will be at the expense of Lebanon, its unity, stability, and prosperity
This choropleth map shows the number of deaths by mohafazat (region) in 2008 2 years after the Lebanon War. Central and Northern Lebanon are darker regions where the higher number of deaths is occurring while the southern area is much safer than the Northern and central regions. Mount Lebanon has the darkest shade of red meaning that more than 5000 people have died and this area. The crushing fact is that the entire country has been affected by political tension and conflicts.
This table shows the cost of the damages done during the war to Lebanon. Over 3 billion dollars of damage was inflicted on Lebanon making it difficult for the country to ever revert to the days before war.
The war also affected the people he loss of life, loss of crops and livelihoods, destruction or damage of housing, and the displacement of family members have aggravated the living conditions of the most vulnerable segments of the population and increased their threshold of deprivation. The government was under even more pressure to help their own people creating more tension.
Israel’s poor pre-war preparations and overly ambitious objectives led to its strategic defeat in the 2006 Lebanon War. Hezbollah, although unprepared for the scale of the Israeli response, fought tenaciously, suffering high causalities against a technologically superior foe. But despite their heavy causalities, Hezbollah managed to use the war to improve its political power and influence in Lebanon
Israel’s poor pre-war preparations and overly ambitious objectives led to its strategic defeat in the 2006 Lebanon War. Hezbollah, although unprepared for the scale of the Israeli response, fought tenaciously, suffering high causalities against a technologically superior foe. But despite their heavy causalities, Hezbollah managed to use the war to improve its political power and influence in Lebanon