Located in the Middle East, Lebanon is a small country with an area of 10,452 square kilometers (4,035 square miles). Beirut is the capital city. Syria borders it to the north and the east, Israel to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. It does not have any abundance of natural resources except water, a significant commodity in an area facing scarcity of that resource.

Lebanon's population is estimated to be around 3.7 million, although no census has been administered since 1932. The population is thought to be equally divided between Muslims and Christians. However, this claim has been challenged, and some researchers have put the percentage of Muslims (Sunnis, Shiites, Druze, and Alawite) at 60 percent and Christians (Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Catholics, and Christian minorities) at 40 percent. What makes the division between Muslims and Christians more complicated is the fact that there are seventeen different officially recognized religious sects in...