Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Aoun, Michel Naïm, 1935–, Lebanese military and political leader. A graduate of Lebanon's military academy (1958), he fought in several major battles during the civil war (1975–90), rising to the...

(Encyclopedia) Riblah rĭbˈlə [key]. 1 In the Bible, unidentified boundary landmark, N ancient Palestine. 2 City of ancient Syria, used by the Egyptians and later by the Neo-Babylonians as a headquarters in the we...

(Encyclopedia) Beirut bāro͞otˈ [key], Arab. Bayrut, Fr. Beyrouth, city (1996 est. pop. 1,200,000), W Lebanon, capital of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Lebanon Mts. Beirut is an important p...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Syria sērˈēə [key], officially Syrian Arab Republic, republic (2015 est. pop. 18,735,000), 71,467 sq mi (185,100 sq km), W Asia. It borders on Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea in the west,...

(Encyclopedia) Sidon sīˈdən [key], ancient city, one of the great seaports of the Phoenicians, on site of present-day Sidon or Saida (1988 est. pop. 38,000), SW Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea. It was one of th...

(Encyclopedia) hostage, person held by another as a guarantee that certain actions or promises will or will not be carried out. During periods of internal turmoil, insurgents often seize hostages; recent examples in...

(Encyclopedia) Fertile Crescent, historic region of the Middle East. A well-watered and fertile area, it arcs across the northern part of the Syrian desert. It is flanked on the west by the Mediterranean and on the ...

(Encyclopedia) Hasbeya häsbāˈə [key], small town, S Lebanon, at the foot of Mt. Hermon. It was a center of the Druze from the 13th cent. to the 19th cent. The Khulwat el-Bujad, a sacred shrine of the Druze, is o...

(Encyclopedia) American University of Beirut, at Beirut, Lebanon; English language; chartered by New York State in 1866 as Syrian Protestant College, rechartered 1920 as the American Univ. of Beirut. It has facultie...

(Encyclopedia) Webster, Pelatiah, 1726–95, American writer, b. Lebanon, Conn., grad. Yale, 1746. A Philadelphia businessman, he is remembered for his advocacy in his Dissertation of the Political Union and Constit...