Lebanon

Independent since 1943, Lebanon was born from a partitioning of the former League of Nations’ French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. Located on the easternmost shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Lebanon borders with Syria to the north and east, and with Israel to the south. The country has a population of 5 million and its official language is Arabic.

From an institutional point of view, Lebanon is based on a sectarian power-sharing agreement between the various religious communities in the country (Sunni and Shia Muslims, and Maronite Christians). The presence and activities, both political and military, of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah have had destabilising effects both at the international and domestic level. Since 1982, Italy has been present in southern Lebanon with the UNIFIL mission, of which it has held the command four times, and has developed important humanitarian initiatives for the stabilisation of the country.

On 4 August 2020, a powerful blast completely destroyed the port of Beirut and part of the city centre, killing over 200 people, injuring 7,000 and displacing 300,000. Immediately after the blast, Italy was one of the most active countries in providing help to the local population and sent two Air Force planes with eight tons of medical equipment and a team of experts. A few weeks later, this was followed by the arrival at Beirut’s port of a logistic naval unit carrying a fully equipped field hospital with specialized personnel and other assets.

Diplomatic relations between Italy and Lebanon have always been positive. From a commercial point of view, in 2021 the trade between the two countries reached $ 639 million.