Lebanese Republc Mnstry of Natonal Defense Army Command The Lebanese Defensve Polcy In Lght of Vtal Interests
Brefng contents 1. Introducton. 2. Geographc, Natural and Demographc Features. 3. The poltcal and Economcal System. 4. Vtal Interests. 5. Natonal Objectves and Issues. 6. Foregn Polcy. 7. Defensve Polcy. 8. Summary.
1 Introducton. Despte ts small s/e and he small numher or's people. Lebanon represents a unque j.\ampe n ts c~. l/.aon and pla}j a sgnfcant role n the Mddle.- East regon. From!.:K!:on. 'he Alphabet emerged and spread,.ut and \vhn ;;s boundares, man)! e> <e\;stence 'or us sons. cnd'-'aeu v\:h ;.he -.pn o cooperaton, tolerance and :.ove. whch nduced hs holness Pope John Paul 11 to declare " Lebanon s far more than a country, t s a message to East and West alke. In addton to ts strategc geographc locaton and splendd clmate, Lebanon s characterzed by ts democratc regme, unverstes, press meda, hosptals, banks, ts free economy and dversfed servces, whch made of t a centre of attracton to toursts and nternatonal nvestments. It was the destny of ths country and snce the begnnng of the nneteenth century, to nteract n a regon full of tenson, conflcts and wars, due to the Arabc-Israel conflct, whch made t pay an exorbtant prce durng a ffteen years of ordeal. However, Lebanon lke the phoenx, emerged agan, lve as ever, contnung to serve ts destned role and message. We wll endeavor through ths brefng to cast a lght on the Lebanese defensve polcy startng from the potental threats, whch Lebanon mght be exposed to, passng by the requrements and constants of ths polcy and arrvng to specfyng the Lebanese mltary forces, whch are responsble for ts mplementaton. We wll be most ready at the same tme to answer any possble queston and gve any possble clarfcaton. 1. Geographc, Natural and Demographc features. A. Locaton (annex 'A') Lebanon s stuated on the eastern shore of the Medterranean Sea, wth an area of 10452 square klometers. It s predomnated wth two western and eastern mountanous chans embodyng the Al-Bekaa valley. Lebanon s bounded to the north and east by Syra and to the south by Palestne. Ths Geographc dstngushed locaton made of Lebanon a brdge between East and West, connectng the three contnents Asa, Afrca and Europe. B. Geographc Characterstcs (annex "B") 1) THE Coastal Regon 2) The Western Mountanous Chan. A mountanous regon, whch runs alongsde the coastal plan from one, sde and overlooks the Bekaa plan from the other sde. It embraces the hghest mountanous peak n Lebanon wth an elevaton of 3088 meters.
3) Al-Bekaa Valley. Les between the Western Mountanous chan n the west and the Ant-Lebanon Mountans n the east. The valley approxmately 180 klometers long and from 3 to 15 klometers wde, s consdered the najor source of agrculture n the country and s well known for ts fertle sol. j 4) The eastern Mountanous Chan (The Ant-Lebauoju Mountans). It s sembarren and consttutes the eastern boundary wth Syra. C. The Natural Resources: Lebanon s not consdered a rch country n raw materals. Its mneral resources are lmted; of most mportant are the lmestone, marble and grante sand used n cement, tles, ceramcs, porcelan, pottery and glass ndustres. As for water resources, t s mo than suffcent compared wth a neghborng regon that suffers of scarcty n water resources. Its most mportant rvers are the Ltan, the Orontes (nahr l-as). Al-lasban and the Awwal. Some of the latest researches revealed possblty of exstence of ol and natural gas on the coastal lne. D. Demographc features. The present populaton of Lebanon s estmated at 4.000.000. Consstng of dfferent relgous sects and rtes. The coastal regon s the most populated area. Lebanon s rch wth ts human resources where more than ten mllon Lebanese emgrants and descendants spread all over the world many of whch occuped major postons n ther lands of emgraton. Arabc s the major language n the country but French and Englsh are also wdely spoken. dstrbuton s as follows:- The demographc
-Age rates -Ethnc Groups -Relgons Arabs Armenans Others Muslms Chrstans O -co -' _ 4% 1 % o 55% 45% 3 - Poltcal and economcal System A - The Poltcal System. Lebanon s a democratc country wth a parlamentary system of government based on honorng publc freedoms. The people are the orgn of powers and owner of soveregnty. The poltcal system s formed of three ndependent yet ntegrated authortes and construed on the prncple of separaton, balancng and cooperaton between these three authortes whch are :- (l)the executve power. (a) Presdent of the Republc. He s the presdent of state and the symbol of soldarty of the naton. He watches over observance of the consttuton and mantenance of ndependency of Lebanon, he s the supreme commander of the armed
forces, whch submt to the authorty of the councl of mnsters. He s elected by the parlament for a sx years perod. (b) Prme Mnster He s the Head of Cabnet who represents t and speaks n ts name. He s responsble for the executon of the publc polcy lad down by (he cabnet! (c) The Cabnet. \ Entrusted wth the executve power and the armed forces submt to ts control, t draws up the publc polcy of the state and enacts laws and organzatonal decrees and take the necessary steps for ther mplementaton. (2) The Legslatve Power Represented by a parlament consstng of 128 mer.bers elected for 4 years perod accordng to the followng rules: - a) By equalty between Muslms and Chrstans. b) by proportonal representaton between the two groups. c) By relatvty between the regons. (3) The Judcal Power. Admnstered by the courts on dfferent levels and jursdcton, wthn a regulaton stpulated by law, whch preserves full rghts to judges and defendants alke.
B - The Economcal System. Lebanon adapts the free economcal system, whch s bull on encouragng ndvdualstc ntatve. Trade and Servces Sector consttute I he economcal pllar of I the System and encompass most of the labor power. Ths Sector contrbutes to more than two thrds of the Natonal Gross Product and s followed n mportance by the Industral Sector and the Agrcultural Sector respectvely. 4- Vtal Interests. The Vtal Interests n Lebanon are summoned as folo ws:- a) Defendng the soveregnty and terrtoral unty of Lebanon aganst any external threat. b) Lberaton of "Shebaa farms" and all other occuped terrtores. c) Mantanng and Consoldatng Natonal Unty. d) Protecton of Strategc Natonal resources and Water Resources n partcular. e) Protecton of the consttuton. f) Enhancng the Socal and Economcal Standng. g) Return of Palestnans Refugees to ther lands n accordance wth U.N. resoluton 194. h) Development of the state based on the legslaton and rnodernzaton of the nsttutons, ) Solvng the Mddle East problem n accordance wth Internatonal Resolutons 242 and 338. j) Seekng to establsh amcable relatons wth sster and; frendly countres.
5- Natonal Goals and Causes. j, j Departs from the belef n a Fnal Lberal and Unfed Nato callng lor tolerance. love and respect of poltcal freedoms and the freedom of op: non and beleves n socal justce and equalty among ts ctzens both n rghts and responsbltes. a. Natonal Goals. 1. Developng Lebanon as a Modern. Democratc and Parlamentary Republc. 2. Pursung the Reconstructon Process. 3. Developng Human Resources, Modernzng and Generalzng the Educatonal Means. 4. Preparng to face the Globalzaton Challeng :s n the Insde and through External Collaboraton. 5. Strvng to consoldate peace and stablty njthe Insde and n the Regon and on Internatonal Level. 6. Advancement towards strong Economy. Flo rshng and Compettve. b. Natonal Cause. 1. Encounterng probable Threats aganst Insttutons or the Acts of Coercon or Destructon or Terrorsm. 2. Reducng level of Poverty and fghtng Unemployment. 3. Increasng the Rate of Economcal Development and Reducng the General Budget defct.
4. Motvatng the Trade Exchange and the Polcy of attractng Foregn Investments n the am of establsh! m Socal Economcal and Poltcal Development 5. Development of most relable and llonest Relaton and Dplomatc Tes wth the Internatonal Comnunty. 6. Prvatzaton of Publc Utltes on md term bass n am to reduce the burden on Economy. 7. Protectng the Envronment and combatng contamnaton partcularly, the water contamnaton n the Medterranean Sea Basn, n collaboraton wth the Medterranean Basn Countres. 8. Assertng on acceleratng the de-mnng process, partcularly n the southern regon. 6 -Foregn Polcy Summoned as Follows :- A. Adherence of Lebanon to the Unted Natons 1 conventons and the League of Arab States, partcularly snce he sja founder and actve member n them both, as well a member h the non-algnment movement. B. Renewal of trust n Lebanon's model role wthn the Arab Regon. C. Assertng on the Lebanese dstngushed relatons wth the Arab Neghborng countres and frendly states whch are based on mutual respect of soveregnty and ndependence of each of them. D. Contrbuton of the Lebanese Dplomacy n developng and realzng progress and enhancng economcal, socal and educatonal prosperty.
E. {Strengthenng relatons between Lebanon and the European states. followng the jonng and sgnng of Lebanon bn the Medterranean partnershp wth the European Unon.! F. Drectng the Lebanese assocatons spread all over the world to create best tes and ntegraton between mmgrants and resdents. G. Adopton of just and comprehensve pence nj the mddle east as a strategc opton n accordance wth the nternatonal legtmacy resolutons and the prncple of "Land for Peace" H. Belef of Lebanon n the justce of the Palestnan case and supportng the Palestnans legtmate rghts n all nternatonal crcles, partcularly the rght of refugees to return to ther homes and establshng ther own ndependent state. 7- The Defensve Polcy. A - potental Threats to the State. 1) External Threat. the major external threat s represented n Israel's greed and ts aggressve and expandng polcy. 2) Internal Treat. After the defeat of the Israel's forces n South Lebanon and takng hold of securty by the Lebanese *- state nsttutons, breachng of securty on the nternal and external fronts became lmted, however,! what ever stll exsts of the nternal threats and challenges cold be summoned by the followng:- a) Undermnng nternal stablty. b) Organzed Crmes. 10
c) Drugs of dfferent types, n terms of plantaton, processng and smugglng. d) Illegal mmgratons from and to [Lebanon. In ths area, Lebanon acheved area I success through the efforts made by hs securty nstruments. In ths connecton, the Interpol Organzaton declared n: February 2004 that Lebanon has acheved mportant results n the feld of securty and reducton to the crme rate n comparson wth many Arab countres. B - the Defensve Polcy Requrements. The Consttuton entrusted the Army and the remanng armed forces the responsblty of defendng the naton and preservng ts securty and protectng ts nsttutons and laws. jthe basc defensve I requrements are represented by the followngl- 1) Constructng the natonal prncples and Constants whch secure the vtal nterests. 2) Enhancng the natonal and securty awareness and closng the gaps that effects them. 3) Qualfyng mltary forces capable of confrontng the external and nternal threats alke. j 4) Watchng over the respect and protecton of democracy and human rghts. 5) Workng to gan the publc opnon to support the states's polcy n spreadng securty. G - The defensve Polcy Constants. 1) Adopton of defense on Strategc and (Operatonal levels. j 11
2) Protectng the natonal fuson and natonal unty. 3) Fghtng and combatng terrorsm. 4) Avodng war and mltary actons by adoptng poltcal and dplomatc means. 5) Reaffrmng the necessty of total wthdrawal of the Israel forces from the remanng occuped Lebanese terrtores. Chebaa Farms.) towards the nternatonal boarders by dplomatc means, and the rght of resstance aganst occupaton. 6) Defendng the naton and ctzens aganst all threats and aggressons. 7) Confrontng all threats effectng the vtal nterests of the stale 8) Cooperatng and Coordnatng wth the Arab armes and frendly armes through concluson conventons. 9) Conservng securty and nternal stablty. of treates and 10) Contrbutng n the developmen t and executon of socal actvtes servng natonal nterest. 11) Executng rescue and relef operatons n coordnaton wth socal and humantaran nsttutons. f 12) Employment of securty based on the terms of law and equalty and securng freedom of poltcal work to all. 13) Protecton of ctzens.. resdents. nsttuton and foregn mssons. 14) Protectng the hstorcal and archeolo«cal stes and contrbutng to perseverance of the envronment 12
15) Cooperaton of the army wth the other stale nsttutons I and placng ts techncal and logstcal capabltes n contrbuton of the development process countrysde. of economy and the 16) Establshng the rght securty at nosphere and takng necessary steps and effectve measures to nvestments to Lebanon. D The Lebanese Mltary Forces. 8 -Summary. attract foregn 1. the armed forces s responsble fbr the executon and protecton the defensve polcy. It s allotted as follows : a) the Army. (Infantry. Ar add sea forces.) b) Securty forces, aa) Internal securty, bb) Publc securty, cc) State securty, dd) Customs. 2. the Organzatonal scheme of the rmed forces. In spte of lmted means avalable, Lebanon jslrves to accomplsh full lberaton of hs terrtory and pursues the advancement process and reconstructon. And through the wll and soldarty!of hs sons and ther absolute belef n ther country, much can be done to make of Lebanon a leadng example. j event.). ( a short word of thanks n due tme and accordng to the 13
Army Command Mltary school Navy forces Ar forces Land forces Command and Stuff College Navy bases Ar bases Mltary school Educaton nsttut 2 Recrutment Camp The hh center Regons Ctes Lxod Unts Logstcs Support Unts Logstc Brgade Mltary Medcne Support Unts Support Brgade Artlleres Regments ndependents works Regment Operatonal Unts Combat Brgades Combat Regments Specal*' RegmeuJ Mltary Polce