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Belgian Amiga Club - ADF Collection
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BS1 part 27.zip
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BS1 part 27
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WorldAtlas2_d2.adf
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TEXTA
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1990-04-02
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26 lines
Formed from 5 former Turkish Empire districts, Lebanon became
independent on September 1, 1920. French adminstration continued
until 1941 and French troops left in 1946. Under agreement in
1943, all government positions were divided among the various
religious communities with Christians in the majority. By the
1970s the Moslem population became the majority and demanded a
larger political and economic role. Civil War broke out in 1974
and '75, killing 60,000 people and billions of dollars of damage.
Palestinian units, leftists and Moslems fought against the
Maronite militia, the Phalange and other Christians. Many Arab
countries provided support to different factions while the
Israelis aided the Christian forces. In 1976, 15,000 Syrian
forces intervened and fought Palestinian groups. In March 1978,
Israel forces invaded southern Lebanon and again in 1982 a full
scale Israeli invasion occurred ending with the occupation of
Beirut. In 1983, terrorist attacks became common, resulting in
50 people being killed at the U.S. Embassy on April 18th and 241
U.S. service men and 58 French soldiers on October 23.
Kidnapping of foreign nationals by Islamic militants has become
commonplace in the 1980s. U.S. British, French and Soviet
citizens have been victims. A political deadlock occurred in September
1988 when the deputies failed to meet to elect a new president. In March
1989, fierce artillery battles erupted between the rival Lebanese
factions, each backed by several Arab and foreign countries. The capital
Beirut and other cities have suffered extensive damage but the crisis
remains unsolved. @