ocr: had withstood 15 years of war. As the 80s drew to a close, it seemed at times that this tiny nation of fewer than 3 million souls might not survive, that the liberalism that had blessed it and set it: apart from other Arab countries might also be its undoing. With 17 religious communities contained in only 4,000 square miles and no strong-arm regime to weld them together, Lebanon was easy preyfor the ambitions and rivalries of the powerful states that surrounded - - - it. Its own delicate internal balance had been maintained since independence by an unwritten agreement that shared power among ...
