Lebanon

One of the most complex and divided countries in the region, Lebanon has been on the fringes, and at times at the heart, of the Middle East conflict surrounding the creation of Israel.

It became the scene of renewed and deadly fighting in July 2006, when Israel launched a major military campaign against the Lebanon-based Shia Muslim armed group Hezbollah, sparked by the movement's capture of two Israeli soldiers.

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 opposition groups 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 UN has demanded the dismantling of all armed groups in Lebanon, including Palestinian militias and the military wing of Hezbollah, a powerful Shia Muslim movement which controls much of southern Lebanon and enjoys Syrian and Iranian support.

When Hezbollah militia captured 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.

It is anticipated that international peacekeepers and Lebanon's national army will police a UN-brokered ceasefire. But in Beirut, political divisions cloud the issue of what should be done about Hezbollah'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.