HOME | DD

Description

The Assassination of the French High Commissioner of the Levant, Henri Gouraud, by Southern Lebanese folk hero Adham Khanjar on 23 June 1921 would send shockwaves throughout the French mandate. The bold action inspired further pro-Independence unrest across Syria, but particularly among Greater Lebanon's already restless Shia population (who were unhappy about their inclusion in the Maronite dominated "Greater Lebanon" polity and sought union with Syria). When the French Army of the Levant launched a punitive campaign of retribution in the Wadi al-Hujair region of Southern Lebanon (seeking to hunt down Gouraud's assasins), the tense situation in the French mandate devolved once more into widespread violence. As reports of atrocities against Shia civilians in the Wadi al-Hujair spread, large numbers of Shia in Greater Lebanon rose in open revolt against France. The rugged Jabal Amel region of Southern Lebanon and Beqqa Valley would form the nexus of the revolt. Viewing Maronites and other Christian groups as French collaborators, the Shia revolutionaries attacked isolated Christian villages throughout Southern Lebanon and the Beqqa. With French assistance, the Maronites and other Christian groups would form militas to defend their villages. Seeking to exact retribution against the Shia rebels, these Maronite militas unleashed a retaliatory campaign of terror against isolated Shia villages in central Lebanon. Before the French were able to get the Shia revolt under control in early 1923, tens of thousands had been killed, and many more had been displaced.

Seeking to stabilize the region and forestall future conflict, the French decided to undertake an administrative reorganization of Greater Lebanon. The borders of Greater Lebanon had only been established in 1920 by Henri Gouraud, who had expanded the old Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate to encompass what many in the Maronite community deemed "Lebanon's natural frontiers." However, it was increasingly clear to the French that the Muslim community of Greater Lebanon did not want to be included within the polity, and even many within the Maronite community were having second thoughts about the expansion of their national frontiers. Under the direction of Gouraud's replacement, Maxime Weygand, the French would undertake another redrawing of the borders. Back in 1920, then Prime Minister, and now French President Millerand had reprimanded Gouraud for including the predominantly Sunni city of Tripoli within the borders of Greater Lebanon. Tripoli was excised from Greater Lebanon and placed under direct French Administration after the Maronite community objected to the city being included within the Syrian Federation polity (out of concerns the port could draw traffic and trade away from Beirut and inspire future Syrian irredentism against Lebanon). Christians living in the city were granted Lebanese citizenship, while Muslims living in the city were granted Syrian citizenship. The predominantly Shia Jabal Amel region, was also excised from Lebanon, and was transformed into a seperate polity analogus to the Jabal-al-Druze state. The Jabal Amel region was difficult to administer, had a small Christian population (made smaller by the 1922-1923 revolt), and its weak economy was much more integrated with Haifa in British Mandatory Palestine than it was with Beiruit (so much so the Palestinian pound was the de facto currency in the region). In contrast, the majority Muslim Akkar and Beqqa, with their large agricultural production and large Christian minorities were deemed vital to include in Lebanon. The memories of the Mount Lebanon famine during WWI were still strong in the minds of the Maronite community - so these territories remained within Lebanon. Thus the "Greater Lebanon" vision was abandoned for the "Middle Lebanon" vision.

This political reorganization was accompanied with a population transfer. Seeking to emulate the perceived success of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey agreed at Lausanne, the French decided to implement a population transfer of their own. Christians living in Jabal Amel were evacuated north, while the Twelver Shia population of the Beqqa was (with some exceptions) transplanted to the Jabal Amel state. This action saw more Muslims than Christians relocated - so the French decided to assist in the repopulation of the depopulated Beqqa by resettling Armenian and Assyrian refugees in the area. The city of Baalbek today is known for having one of the largest Armenian populations of a city outside of Armenia. After the Simele massacre in Iraq in 1933, additional Assyrians would be resettled within Lebanon. While many within Jabal Amel continuted to advocate union with Syria (though these calls grew less strong over time), strong protests from Beirut led the French to block a proposed merger of the territory with the Syrian Republic polity - even as the Alawite state and Jabal-al-Druze were folded into Syria in 1936 to appease Syrian nationalists.

The Second World War would see Syria, Lebanon, and Jabal Amel attain independence from France. The Vichy Government assumed control of the territories in 1940, but only governed the territory for about a year before the Free French forces under General de Gaulle. Lebanese leaders asked de Gaulle to terminate the Mandate, and used contacts in the Lebanese diaspora to apply international pressure to the Free French government. On 26 November 1941, the Free French acceded to to this pressure and agreed to Lebanese independence, but continued to exercise significant control over the country. This control was put to the test on 8 November 1943, when the newly elected Lebanese Chamber of Deputies amended the Lebanese Constitution to remove all references to the Mandate and end the powers of the High Commissioner, in effect, unilaterally ending the mandate. The French arrested the Lebanese President, Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister's cabinet - but were forced to back down after facing massive street protests after the move - agreeing to terminate the mandate after the end of the war. The French action was so unpopular even Muslims and Druze joined the protest. The participation of Lebanon's religious minorities in the protest was acknowledged by the Christian majority, who agreed to reserve 25% of seats in the Lebanese parliament to Muslims and Druze, in return for the community abandoning aspirations to unify with Syria. After being forced to recognizie the inevitability of Lebanese independence, the French concluded similar agreements to terminate the mandate with Syria and Jabal Amel. The French evacuated Syria, Lebanon, and Jabal Amel on 31 December 1946, except for the island of Arwad and port of Tripoli, which were retained as navy base.

For the first decade and a half of independence, Lebanon would straddle the divide between aligning itself with the West and Arab world. Lebanon was a founding member of the Arab League, but maintained extensive ties with France (both Arabic and French were recognized as Lebanon's official language). Lebanon declined to involve itself in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, but also declined to recognize the independence of the new Jewish state and hosted a large number of Palestinian refugees from the Nakba (many Palestinian Christians chose to flee to Lebanon, though the Lebanese also hosted many Muslim Palestinian refugees) . There were some incidents of anti-Jewish vandalism and violence in the aftermath of the Arab defeat, but Lebanon's Jewish community did not suffer from the widespread pogroms they faced across the Arab world after 1948. Events would eventually transpire to force Lebanon to fully throw in its lot with the West.

On 1 February 1958, the establishment of the United Arab Republic - a union between Syria and Egypt - was proclaimed. Many believed the UAR was the first step before a larger pan-Arab state, and many Lebanese (including Lebanese President Camille Chamoun) were concerned that its Syrian neighbor (now backed up by Egyptian military power) would seek to annex their country. Those Lebanese were right to be concerned - as Nasser's UAR began to apply pressure to Lebanon and create the conditions to force Lebanon into the union, or failing that, justify a military intervention. The UAR began covertly supplying munitions to the few remaining Shia in the Baalbek, encouraging them to undertake guerilla action against the Lebanese army. Contacts with Muslim Palestinian refugees were established, and soon refugee camps in Lebanon became hotbeds of pan-Arabist sentiment. However, the lynchpin of the UAR's pressure campaign against Lebanon would be exploiting the growing unrest in Tripoli. The predominantly Sunni city (where the vast majority of residents held Syrian and now UAR passports), still occupied by France, had been agitating for union with Syria on and off during the 1950s. While the French remained publicly noncommittal about the fate of the city, it was increasingly clear they planned to withdraw from the city in the near future. The French Nuclear program, which was only a few years from a functioning warhead would diminish the importance of the French surface fleet, and the island of Arwad was able to serve many of the functions that Tripoli could (while being much easier to administer and defend). The UAR immediately began supporting sustained protests that demanded the French leave and allow the city to unify with the United Arab Republic. Additionally, they covertly backed mob actions against Christian owned businesses and property in the city in an attempt to further destabilize the city and provoke the Lebanese into overreacting. These soft power actions by Nasser worked to great effect, causing significant strife and turmoil within Lebanon, and when Lebanese President Camille Chamoun announced his intention to run for re-election as President (despite this action being illegal under the Lebanese Constitution and the pact signed between Christians and religious minorities in 1943) it seemed everything was going according to plan. In June 1958, the French announced they would leave Tripoli by the end of 1960 and hand the city over to Lebanon (as it happened, various Lebanese government officials had high-level contacts with important players in the May 1958 crisis and furthermore Lebanon had been rather successfully playing itself up as an anti-communist bulwark). The Lebanese powder keg ignited.

Tripoli quickly became ungovernable, and protests rocked every predominantly Muslim area of Lebanon. All the while, the Christian community of Lebanon was split over whether or not to support Camille Chamoun. At French request, the Lebanese Army deployed soldiers to help contain the violence in Tripoli - eager to defend Christians in the city. On 11 July 1958, when a Lebanese patrol entered the Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighborhood of Tripoli to act as crowd control for a large protest that was gathering in the neighborhood, a number of gunshots rang out from an overlooking apartment. After realizing that some of their comrades had fallen, the Lebanese Army soldiers began to indiscriminately fire upon the crowd in front of them. Dozens of Muslims (and more importantly dozens of United Arab Republic citizens) lay dead. Nasser had his cassus belli. The United Arab Republic, which had been massing troops on the Lebanese border the previous month, issued an ultimatum to Lebanon to allow UAR soldiers to pass through to the Akkar to Tripoli, where they would be deployed as peacekeepers. Furthermore, President Camille would have to step down as President, Leanon would pay indemnities to the families of those killed in the Bab-al-Tibbaneh massacre, and the United Arab Republic would have "the right to protect" the Muslim community in Lebanon. Lebanon refused, and when the ultimatum expired on 13 July 1958, the war began. The United Arab Republic air force began straffing raids on major Lebanese cities, while the Army began moving into Lebanon. While the UAR's armored push towards Tripoli almost reached the outskirts of the city within two days, offensives elsewhere bogged down in the rough terrain. The Lebanese Army, however, was in little position to resist the UAR Army for much longer.

Lebanon appealed to the West for assistance. France, still in political turmoil, offered little except tepid assurances that they 'did not intend to vacate' Tripoli ahead of the established timetable. However, Lebanon's appeal to the West had receptive ears in Washington, which worried that the fall of Lebanon would facilitate the spread of Communism throughout the Middle East. United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Blue Bat on July 15, 1958 (the first use of the Eisenhower Doctrine). The United States demanded the United Arab Republic immediately leave Lebanon and indicated that the position of the United States was that "the fate of Tripoli will be decided according to International mediation." As this was happening, the United States began the process of emergency airlifting soldiers into Beirut. Believing this was a repeat of the Suez Crisis, Nasser attempted to call what he believed was Eisenhower's bluff, and tried to organize a lightening push on Beirut (abandoning the effort to secure Tripoli) to force the American's to accept the UAR's occupation of Lebanon as a fait-accompli. This effort failed when American planes from the USS Saratoga, USS Essex, and USS Wasp scattered UAR planes operating near Beirut (to enable US soldiers to safely land), and then proceeded to bomb UAR positions inside of occupied Lebanon. Nasser's bluff had failed, and the United Arab Republic began a chaotic and disorganized retreat from Lebanon.

United States troops would remain in Lebanon until August of 1959. As the political situation in France normalized, the French Foreign legion augmented and eventually replaced the United States troops stationed in Lebanon. The proposed international mediation (which wasn't much of a "mediation" due to the meeting being boycotted by the UAR) would see Tripoli ceded to Lebanon , but required Lebanon to agree to a number of minority protections and for Camille to forgo running for another term (which he reluctantly agreed to at the last minute). Pierre Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb Party, was able to shrewdly navigate the chaotic political chaos in Lebanon to secure election as Lebanon's Third President.

President Gemayael soon went to work enacting his vision of Lebanese nationalism - one which estranged the country from the Arab world. As soon as the last United States soldiers left, the Lebanese reneged on their promise to protect the Muslim minority in Tripoli. A violent mob of Maronites, many of whom had lost relatives during the brief but intense UAR bombing campaign against Lebanese cities, descended on the city and began to carry out a pogrom against the Muslims who remained in the city (many had already left for the United Arab Republic). Contemporary onlookers said the violence rivaled that of the Istanbul Pogrom that occurred three years earlier. French soldiers were criticized by international commentators for standing by as the mob carried out violence and many believe the mob was organized with the covert support of President Gemayael. This pogrom inspired retaliatory mob actions against Christians in Syria - and Lebanon was suspended from the Arab League (Lebanon would formally leave the League in 1961) . With the strong backing of parliament, President Gemayael advanced a law that mimicked Israel's "right of return" law - granting Christian communities native to the Levant and Iraq the right to immigrate to Lebanon and become citizens. Many of the Christian Palestinian refugees took up this opportunity. Concurrent with this, Muslim Palestinian refugees were forced to leave the country. The Phoenicianism ideology gained official government backing under the tenure of Gemayael as well. Lebanese school children were taught a curriculum which emphasized the "Phoenician basis" and "uninterrupted continuity" of the Lebanese culture. Phoenicianism was complemented by a Christian nationalism: Lebanon was characterized as an explicitly Christian nation with a "unbreakable fraternal bond" with the West. The Crusades were taught as a justified action as a period of economic development and prosperity. President Gemayael's successor, Charles Helou would continue this reorientation of Lebanon away from the Arabic world. In an action that was universally opposed by the Muslim minority and even viewed with intense skepticism by many within the Chrisitan community, Helou visited Jerusalem in 1968, recognized Israel, and sought to foster close military ties with the Jewish state after its impressive victory over Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Jabal Amel in the Eight-Day War of 1967.

One of the most significant components of President Pierre Gemayael's program of Lebanese nationalism was the revival of the Aramaic language. Moved by the successful Hebrew revival effort in Israel, Gemayael sought to set Lebanon apart from the Arab world and unite the Christian community (with its many different liturgical languages) together with a "neutral" language. Various plans were proposed, from attempting to revive Phoenician (which was deemed too daunting a task) to trying to spin off the Lebanese dialect of Arabic as a separate language (which wasn't ambitious enough for Gemayael). Ultimately, it was decided to revive the Aramaic language - or more accurately, standardize and proliferate Western Neo-Aramaic (also known as Siryon), which was spoken by a small number of Syrian Christians who had immigrated to Lebanon. The Lebanese government made much of the fact that Aramaic was the spoken language of Jesus (and was the dominant language of Lebanon before the Arab conquest) - and went to work putting into place the infrastructure to teach the language to the next generation of Lebanese school children. Aramaic was adopted the official language of Lebanon - but Arabic and French remained "operational languages" of state business until a critical mass of Lebanese learned the language. In 1983, newly elected President Bachir Gemayel (son of President Pierre Gemayael) announced that Aramaic had achieved the "critical mass" of speakers necessary for the language to be the official language of state business. The following poster was made in commemoration of this proclamation:

ܠܶܒܰܢܳܢ ܘܢܶ ܡܳܪܶ ܨܦܶܰܟܣ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܟܗܪܺܣܬ
Lebanon once more speaks the language of Christ!

ܐܬܶܪ ܶܢܬܽܪܺܶܣ ܰܢܕ ܶܢܬܽܪܺܶܣ ܳ ܳܪܶܺܓܢ ܪܽܠܶ

ܫܶ ܰܣܬ ܰܣܺܕܶ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܦܰܣܬ ܳܢܩܽܶܪܳܪܣ

ܢܳ ܡܳܪܶ ܕܳ ܘܶ ܣܦܶܰܟ ܪܶܢܗ ܳܪ ܐܪܰܒܺ

ܠܶܒܰܢܳܢ ܘܢܶ ܡܳܪܶ ܨܦܶܰܟܣ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܟܗܪܺܣܬ

After centuries and centuries of foreign rule,
we cast aside the language of past conquerors.
No more do we speak French or Arabic,
Lebanon once more speaks the language of Christ!
----
There is probably a 1000% chance I got the neo-Aramaic wrong to at least some degree, if anyone actually knows any language in the Syraic language family and has any suggestions to improve things, I'd love to hear them.

Description

The Assassination of the French High Commissioner of the Levant, Henri Gouraud, by Southern Lebanese folk hero Adham Khanjar on 23 June 1921 would send shockwaves throughout the French mandate. The bold action inspired further pro-Independence unrest across Syria, but particularly among Greater Lebanon's already restless Shia population (who were unhappy about their inclusion in the Maronite dominated "Greater Lebanon" polity and sought union with Syria). When the French Army of the Levant launched a punitive campaign of retribution in the Wadi al-Hujair region of Southern Lebanon (seeking to hunt down Gouraud's assasins), the tense situation in the French mandate devolved once more into widespread violence. As reports of atrocities against Shia civilians in the Wadi al-Hujair spread, large numbers of Shia in Greater Lebanon rose in open revolt against France. The rugged Jabal Amel region of Southern Lebanon and Beqqa Valley would form the nexus of the revolt. Viewing Maronites and other Christian groups as French collaborators, the Shia revolutionaries attacked isolated Christian villages throughout Southern Lebanon and the Beqqa. With French assistance, the Maronites and other Christian groups would form militas to defend their villages. Seeking to exact retribution against the Shia rebels, these Maronite militas unleashed a retaliatory campaign of terror against isolated Shia villages in central Lebanon. Before the French were able to get the Shia revolt under control in early 1923, tens of thousands had been killed, and many more had been displaced.

Seeking to stabilize the region and forestall future conflict, the French decided to undertake an administrative reorganization of Greater Lebanon. The borders of Greater Lebanon had only been established in 1920 by Henri Gouraud, who had expanded the old Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate to encompass what many in the Maronite community deemed "Lebanon's natural frontiers." However, it was increasingly clear to the French that the Muslim community of Greater Lebanon did not want to be included within the polity, and even many within the Maronite community were having second thoughts about the expansion of their national frontiers. Under the direction of Gouraud's replacement, Maxime Weygand, the French would undertake another redrawing of the borders. Back in 1920, then Prime Minister, and now French President Millerand had reprimanded Gouraud for including the predominantly Sunni city of Tripoli within the borders of Greater Lebanon. Tripoli was excised from Greater Lebanon and placed under direct French Administration after the Maronite community objected to the city being included within the Syrian Federation polity (out of concerns the port could draw traffic and trade away from Beirut and inspire future Syrian irredentism against Lebanon). Christians living in the city were granted Lebanese citizenship, while Muslims living in the city were granted Syrian citizenship. The predominantly Shia Jabal Amel region, was also excised from Lebanon, and was transformed into a seperate polity analogus to the Jabal-al-Druze state. The Jabal Amel region was difficult to administer, had a small Christian population (made smaller by the 1922-1923 revolt), and its weak economy was much more integrated with Haifa in British Mandatory Palestine than it was with Beiruit (so much so the Palestinian pound was the de facto currency in the region). In contrast, the majority Muslim Akkar and Beqqa, with their large agricultural production and large Christian minorities were deemed vital to include in Lebanon. The memories of the Mount Lebanon famine during WWI were still strong in the minds of the Maronite community - so these territories remained within Lebanon. Thus the "Greater Lebanon" vision was abandoned for the "Middle Lebanon" vision.

This political reorganization was accompanied with a population transfer. Seeking to emulate the perceived success of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey agreed at Lausanne, the French decided to implement a population transfer of their own. Christians living in Jabal Amel were evacuated north, while the Twelver Shia population of the Beqqa was (with some exceptions) transplanted to the Jabal Amel state. This action saw more Muslims than Christians relocated - so the French decided to assist in the repopulation of the depopulated Beqqa by resettling Armenian and Assyrian refugees in the area. The city of Baalbek today is known for having one of the largest Armenian populations of a city outside of Armenia. After the Simele massacre in Iraq in 1933, additional Assyrians would be resettled within Lebanon. While many within Jabal Amel continuted to advocate union with Syria (though these calls grew less strong over time), strong protests from Beirut led the French to block a proposed merger of the territory with the Syrian Republic polity - even as the Alawite state and Jabal-al-Druze were folded into Syria in 1936 to appease Syrian nationalists.

The Second World War would see Syria, Lebanon, and Jabal Amel attain independence from France. The Vichy Government assumed control of the territories in 1940, but only governed the territory for about a year before the Free French forces under General de Gaulle. Lebanese leaders asked de Gaulle to terminate the Mandate, and used contacts in the Lebanese diaspora to apply international pressure to the Free French government. On 26 November 1941, the Free French acceded to to this pressure and agreed to Lebanese independence, but continued to exercise significant control over the country. This control was put to the test on 8 November 1943, when the newly elected Lebanese Chamber of Deputies amended the Lebanese Constitution to remove all references to the Mandate and end the powers of the High Commissioner, in effect, unilaterally ending the mandate. The French arrested the Lebanese President, Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister's cabinet - but were forced to back down after facing massive street protests after the move - agreeing to terminate the mandate after the end of the war. The French action was so unpopular even Muslims and Druze joined the protest. The participation of Lebanon's religious minorities in the protest was acknowledged by the Christian majority, who agreed to reserve 25% of seats in the Lebanese parliament to Muslims and Druze, in return for the community abandoning aspirations to unify with Syria. After being forced to recognizie the inevitability of Lebanese independence, the French concluded similar agreements to terminate the mandate with Syria and Jabal Amel. The French evacuated Syria, Lebanon, and Jabal Amel on 31 December 1946, except for the island of Arwad and port of Tripoli, which were retained as navy base.

For the first decade and a half of independence, Lebanon would straddle the divide between aligning itself with the West and Arab world. Lebanon was a founding member of the Arab League, but maintained extensive ties with France (both Arabic and French were recognized as Lebanon's official language). Lebanon declined to involve itself in the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, but also declined to recognize the independence of the new Jewish state and hosted a large number of Palestinian refugees from the Nakba (many Palestinian Christians chose to flee to Lebanon, though the Lebanese also hosted many Muslim Palestinian refugees) . There were some incidents of anti-Jewish vandalism and violence in the aftermath of the Arab defeat, but Lebanon's Jewish community did not suffer from the widespread pogroms they faced across the Arab world after 1948. Events would eventually transpire to force Lebanon to fully throw in its lot with the West.

On 1 February 1958, the establishment of the United Arab Republic - a union between Syria and Egypt - was proclaimed. Many believed the UAR was the first step before a larger pan-Arab state, and many Lebanese (including Lebanese President Camille Chamoun) were concerned that its Syrian neighbor (now backed up by Egyptian military power) would seek to annex their country. Those Lebanese were right to be concerned - as Nasser's UAR began to apply pressure to Lebanon and create the conditions to force Lebanon into the union, or failing that, justify a military intervention. The UAR began covertly supplying munitions to the few remaining Shia in the Baalbek, encouraging them to undertake guerilla action against the Lebanese army. Contacts with Muslim Palestinian refugees were established, and soon refugee camps in Lebanon became hotbeds of pan-Arabist sentiment. However, the lynchpin of the UAR's pressure campaign against Lebanon would be exploiting the growing unrest in Tripoli. The predominantly Sunni city (where the vast majority of residents held Syrian and now UAR passports), still occupied by France, had been agitating for union with Syria on and off during the 1950s. While the French remained publicly noncommittal about the fate of the city, it was increasingly clear they planned to withdraw from the city in the near future. The French Nuclear program, which was only a few years from a functioning warhead would diminish the importance of the French surface fleet, and the island of Arwad was able to serve many of the functions that Tripoli could (while being much easier to administer and defend). The UAR immediately began supporting sustained protests that demanded the French leave and allow the city to unify with the United Arab Republic. Additionally, they covertly backed mob actions against Christian owned businesses and property in the city in an attempt to further destabilize the city and provoke the Lebanese into overreacting. These soft power actions by Nasser worked to great effect, causing significant strife and turmoil within Lebanon, and when Lebanese President Camille Chamoun announced his intention to run for re-election as President (despite this action being illegal under the Lebanese Constitution and the pact signed between Christians and religious minorities in 1943) it seemed everything was going according to plan. In June 1958, the French announced they would leave Tripoli by the end of 1960 and hand the city over to Lebanon (as it happened, various Lebanese government officials had high-level contacts with important players in the May 1958 crisis and furthermore Lebanon had been rather successfully playing itself up as an anti-communist bulwark). The Lebanese powder keg ignited.

Tripoli quickly became ungovernable, and protests rocked every predominantly Muslim area of Lebanon. All the while, the Christian community of Lebanon was split over whether or not to support Camille Chamoun. At French request, the Lebanese Army deployed soldiers to help contain the violence in Tripoli - eager to defend Christians in the city. On 11 July 1958, when a Lebanese patrol entered the Bab-al-Tibbaneh neighborhood of Tripoli to act as crowd control for a large protest that was gathering in the neighborhood, a number of gunshots rang out from an overlooking apartment. After realizing that some of their comrades had fallen, the Lebanese Army soldiers began to indiscriminately fire upon the crowd in front of them. Dozens of Muslims (and more importantly dozens of United Arab Republic citizens) lay dead. Nasser had his cassus belli. The United Arab Republic, which had been massing troops on the Lebanese border the previous month, issued an ultimatum to Lebanon to allow UAR soldiers to pass through to the Akkar to Tripoli, where they would be deployed as peacekeepers. Furthermore, President Camille would have to step down as President, Leanon would pay indemnities to the families of those killed in the Bab-al-Tibbaneh massacre, and the United Arab Republic would have "the right to protect" the Muslim community in Lebanon. Lebanon refused, and when the ultimatum expired on 13 July 1958, the war began. The United Arab Republic air force began straffing raids on major Lebanese cities, while the Army began moving into Lebanon. While the UAR's armored push towards Tripoli almost reached the outskirts of the city within two days, offensives elsewhere bogged down in the rough terrain. The Lebanese Army, however, was in little position to resist the UAR Army for much longer.

Lebanon appealed to the West for assistance. France, still in political turmoil, offered little except tepid assurances that they 'did not intend to vacate' Tripoli ahead of the established timetable. However, Lebanon's appeal to the West had receptive ears in Washington, which worried that the fall of Lebanon would facilitate the spread of Communism throughout the Middle East. United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Blue Bat on July 15, 1958 (the first use of the Eisenhower Doctrine). The United States demanded the United Arab Republic immediately leave Lebanon and indicated that the position of the United States was that "the fate of Tripoli will be decided according to International mediation." As this was happening, the United States began the process of emergency airlifting soldiers into Beirut. Believing this was a repeat of the Suez Crisis, Nasser attempted to call what he believed was Eisenhower's bluff, and tried to organize a lightening push on Beirut (abandoning the effort to secure Tripoli) to force the American's to accept the UAR's occupation of Lebanon as a fait-accompli. This effort failed when American planes from the USS Saratoga, USS Essex, and USS Wasp scattered UAR planes operating near Beirut (to enable US soldiers to safely land), and then proceeded to bomb UAR positions inside of occupied Lebanon. Nasser's bluff had failed, and the United Arab Republic began a chaotic and disorganized retreat from Lebanon.

United States troops would remain in Lebanon until August of 1959. As the political situation in France normalized, the French Foreign legion augmented and eventually replaced the United States troops stationed in Lebanon. The proposed international mediation (which wasn't much of a "mediation" due to the meeting being boycotted by the UAR) would see Tripoli ceded to Lebanon , but required Lebanon to agree to a number of minority protections and for Camille to forgo running for another term (which he reluctantly agreed to at the last minute). Pierre Gemayel, leader of the Kataeb Party, was able to shrewdly navigate the chaotic political chaos in Lebanon to secure election as Lebanon's Third President.

President Gemayael soon went to work enacting his vision of Lebanese nationalism - one which estranged the country from the Arab world. As soon as the last United States soldiers left, the Lebanese reneged on their promise to protect the Muslim minority in Tripoli. A violent mob of Maronites, many of whom had lost relatives during the brief but intense UAR bombing campaign against Lebanese cities, descended on the city and began to carry out a pogrom against the Muslims who remained in the city (many had already left for the United Arab Republic). Contemporary onlookers said the violence rivaled that of the Istanbul Pogrom that occurred three years earlier. French soldiers were criticized by international commentators for standing by as the mob carried out violence and many believe the mob was organized with the covert support of President Gemayael. This pogrom inspired retaliatory mob actions against Christians in Syria - and Lebanon was suspended from the Arab League (Lebanon would formally leave the League in 1961) . With the strong backing of parliament, President Gemayael advanced a law that mimicked Israel's "right of return" law - granting Christian communities native to the Levant and Iraq the right to immigrate to Lebanon and become citizens. Many of the Christian Palestinian refugees took up this opportunity. Concurrent with this, Muslim Palestinian refugees were forced to leave the country. The Phoenicianism ideology gained official government backing under the tenure of Gemayael as well. Lebanese school children were taught a curriculum which emphasized the "Phoenician basis" and "uninterrupted continuity" of the Lebanese culture. Phoenicianism was complemented by a Christian nationalism: Lebanon was characterized as an explicitly Christian nation with a "unbreakable fraternal bond" with the West. The Crusades were taught as a justified action as a period of economic development and prosperity. President Gemayael's successor, Charles Helou would continue this reorientation of Lebanon away from the Arabic world. In an action that was universally opposed by the Muslim minority and even viewed with intense skepticism by many within the Chrisitan community, Helou visited Jerusalem in 1968, recognized Israel, and sought to foster close military ties with the Jewish state after its impressive victory over Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Jabal Amel in the Eight-Day War of 1967.

One of the most significant components of President Pierre Gemayael's program of Lebanese nationalism was the revival of the Aramaic language. Moved by the successful Hebrew revival effort in Israel, Gemayael sought to set Lebanon apart from the Arab world and unite the Christian community (with its many different liturgical languages) together with a "neutral" language. Various plans were proposed, from attempting to revive Phoenician (which was deemed too daunting a task) to trying to spin off the Lebanese dialect of Arabic as a separate language (which wasn't ambitious enough for Gemayael). Ultimately, it was decided to revive the Aramaic language - or more accurately, standardize and proliferate Western Neo-Aramaic (also known as Siryon), which was spoken by a small number of Syrian Christians who had immigrated to Lebanon. The Lebanese government made much of the fact that Aramaic was the spoken language of Jesus (and was the dominant language of Lebanon before the Arab conquest) - and went to work putting into place the infrastructure to teach the language to the next generation of Lebanese school children. Aramaic was adopted the official language of Lebanon - but Arabic and French remained "operational languages" of state business until a critical mass of Lebanese learned the language. In 1983, newly elected President Bachir Gemayel (son of President Pierre Gemayael) announced that Aramaic had achieved the "critical mass" of speakers necessary for the language to be the official language of state business. The following poster was made in commemoration of this proclamation:

ܠܶܒܰܢܳܢ ܘܢܶ ܡܳܪܶ ܨܦܶܰܟܣ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܟܗܪܺܣܬ
Lebanon once more speaks the language of Christ!

ܐܬܶܪ ܶܢܬܽܪܺܶܣ ܰܢܕ ܶܢܬܽܪܺܶܣ ܳ ܳܪܶܺܓܢ ܪܽܠܶ

ܫܶ ܰܣܬ ܰܣܺܕܶ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܦܰܣܬ ܳܢܩܽܶܪܳܪܣ

ܢܳ ܡܳܪܶ ܕܳ ܘܶ ܣܦܶܰܟ ܪܶܢܗ ܳܪ ܐܪܰܒܺ

ܠܶܒܰܢܳܢ ܘܢܶ ܡܳܪܶ ܨܦܶܰܟܣ ܬܗܶ ܠܰܢܓܽܰܓܶ ܳ ܟܗܪܺܣܬ

After centuries and centuries of foreign rule,
we cast aside the language of past conquerors.
No more do we speak French or Arabic,
Lebanon once more speaks the language of Christ!
----
There is probably a 1000% chance I got the neo-Aramaic wrong to at least some degree, if anyone actually knows any language in the Syraic language family and has any suggestions to improve things, I'd love to hear them.