Lebanon is located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. The country is 215km long, and from east to west the distance ranges from 25 to 90km. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and by Israel to the south.
Lebanon has made a steady progress toward rebuilding its political institutions and regaining its national sovereignty since1991 and the end of the devastating 16-year civil war. According to the Taif Agreement for national reconciliation, the Lebanese have embarked on establishing a more equitable political system acceptable to all parties concerned. Since the end of the war, the Lebanese have conducted several successful elections, most of the militias have been disbanded, and the Lebanese Armed Forces have extended central government authority over more than two-thirds of the country. Lebanon until the humiliating withdrawal in May 2000, Israel used to occupy south Lebanon and continued to support the so-called South Lebanon Army. Syria used to maintain about 25,000 troops in Lebanon based mainly in Beirut, North Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. Syria's troop deployment was legitimized by the Arab League during Lebanon's civil war and in the Taif Agreement.
In March 2000, the Israeli Government agreed it would withdraw from the south of Lebanon before July. The Lebanese Prime Minister welcomed the Israeli decision to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, but called for the withdrawal to be within the framework of a peace accord. President Lahoud emphasized that Israel would not have the security it sought until it returned the occupied Golan Heights to Syria and settled the problem of the Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon. Israel withdrew its forces in May 2000.