The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) is a Lebanese governmental organisation established in 1977, during the Lebanese civil war, which has taken a major role in the sequence of rebuilding the damaged infrastructure of the country.
The CDR was established in January 1977. [1] Directly accountable to the prime minister, it was intended to assess infrastructural needs arising from Lebanon's civil war and allocate international and Lebanese aid for rebuilding the country. It committed $454 million in 1978 towards housing, road repairs, transport and rebuilding Beirut International Airport. In 1983 it could only raise $571 million of the $15 billion needed to rebuild Lebanon. International pledges of support were never completely forthcoming, and the organization faltered in the late 1980s. [2] After the Ta'if Accord the CDR was refounded, gaining new legal powers in 1992 and becoming an important instrument for prime minister Rafic Hariri. [1]
CDR is engaged in all phases of project implementation from planning, feasibility analysis, detailed design, bidding, expropriation, execution, and operation and maintenance of most public facilities on the behalf of the Government of Lebanon or other Lebanese public establishments.
CDR benefits from the services of many local and/or international contractors and consultant companies to assist and control the process of construction and operation of the diverse public facilities.
The history of Lebanon covers the history of the modern Republic of Lebanon and the earlier emergence of Greater Lebanon under the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, as well as the previous history of the region, covered by the modern state.
The economy of Lebanon has been experiencing a large-scale multi-dimensional crisis since 2019, including a banking collapse, the Lebanese liquidity crisis and a sovereign default. It is classified as a developing, lower-middle-income economy. The nominal GDP was estimated at $19 billion in 2020, with a per capita GDP amounting to $2,500. In 2018 government spending amounted to $15.9 billion, or 23% of GDP.
Posts and telecommunications have long played an essential role in Lebanon, a small country with an expansive diaspora, a vivid media landscape, and an economy geared toward trade and banking. The sector's history has nonetheless been chaotic, marked by conflict but also, and perhaps most importantly, a deeply rooted legacy of state control, weak competition, and intense politicization. A combination of poor services and high prices culminated in popular protests against the government's attempt, in October 2019, to tax the widely used messaging service WhatsApp. The anger this measure triggered captured a more general sense of dissatisfaction, and contributed to tipping the country into a protracted crisis. Civil unrest coincided with Lebanon's default on its ballooning debt; in the ensuing economic collapse, telecommunications have been among the infrastructure most affected.
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As of 2014, Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region and the thirteenth-largest in the Arab world. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast. Beirut has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.
Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri, also known as Rafiq al-Hariri, was a Lebanese business tycoon and politician, who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until he resigned on 20 October 2004, before his assassination in 2005.
The Taif Agreement, officially known as the National Reconciliation Accord, was reached to provide "the basis for the ending of the civil war and the return to political normalcy in Lebanon". Negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, it was designed to end the 15 year-long Lebanese Civil War, reassert Lebanese government authority in southern Lebanon, which was controlled at the time by the Christian-separatist South Lebanon Army under the occupational hegemony of Israel. Though the agreement set a time frame for withdrawal of Syrian military forces from Lebanon, stipulating that the Syrian occupation end within two years, Syria did not withdraw its forces from the country until 2005. It was signed on 22 October 1989 and ratified by the Lebanese parliament on 5 November, 1989.
Michel Naim Aoun is a Lebanese politician and former military general who served as the President of Lebanon from 31 October 2016 until 30 October 2022.
The Cedar Revolution or the Independence Intifada was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The popular movement was remarkable for its avoidance of violence, peaceful approach, and its total reliance on methods of civil resistance.
Solidere s.a.l. is a Lebanese joint-stock company in charge of planning and redeveloping Beirut Central District following the conclusion, in 1990, of the Lebanese Civil War. By agreement with the government, Solidere has special powers of eminent domain as well as a limited regulatory authority codified in law, making the company a form of public-private partnership.
On July 25, 1993, Israeli forces launched a week-long attack against Lebanon named Operation Accountability in Israel and the Seven-Day War in Lebanon. Israel specified three purposes to the operation, to strike directly at Hezbollah, to make it difficult for Hezbollah to use southern Lebanon as a base for striking Israel, and to displace refugees in the hopes of pressuring the Lebanese government to intervene against Hezbollah. The affected civilian population included both Lebanese and Palestinian refugees.
The Syrian occupation of Lebanon spanned from 1976, starting with the Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War, to April 30, 2005. This occupation ended after the Cedar Revolution which saw widespread demonstrations by the Lebanese people. The withdrawal agreement was formalised by President Bashar al-Assad and Saad Hariri, son of Rafic Hariri, whose assassination triggered the series of events leading to the end of the occupation.
The Beirut Central District is the historical and geographical core of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. Also called downtown Beirut, it has been described as the “vibrant financial, commercial, and administrative hub of the country.” It is thousands of years old, with a traditional focus of business, finance, culture, and leisure.
The March 14 Alliance, named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, was a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon formed in 2005 that were united by their anti-Syrian stance and by their opposition to the March 8 Alliance. It was led by Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt and Samir Geagea, as well as other prominent figures.
The 2006–2008 Lebanese protests were a series of political protests and sit-ins in Lebanon that began on 1 December 2006, led by groups that opposed the US and Saudi-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and ended on 21 May 2008 with the signing of the Doha Agreement. The opposition was made up of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM); a number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada party, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. A majority of the members of the government were part of the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance, a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon. The two groups were also divided along religious lines, with most Sunnis and Druze supporting the government, and most Shi'a supporting the opposition. The Christian community was split between the two factions, with Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM, claiming to have more than 70% support among the Christians, based on the results of the 2005 parliamentary election.
Israel–Lebanon relations have experienced ups and downs since their establishment in the 1940s.
France–Lebanon relations are the international relations between France and Lebanon. France, the previous administrative power, enjoys friendly relations with Lebanon and has often provided support to the Lebanese. The French language is widely spoken fluently throughout Lebanon and is taught as well as used as a medium of education in many Lebanese schools. Both nations are members of the Francophonie.
Yassine Jaber is a liberal Shia member of parliament in Lebanon. He has represented the Nabatiyeh district in South Lebanon since the first post-Lebanese Civil War election in 1992. He is an independent candidate but is affiliated with the Liberation and Development block led by Amal Movement head and Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri. In the May 2018 elections, Jaber won 7,920 preferential votes under a newly instituted, hybrid voting system that put him at the 71st place out of 515 total candidates across the country.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1595, adopted unanimously on 7 April 2005, after recalling its support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon, the council established a commission to assist Lebanese authorities in their investigation of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in Beirut on 14 February 2005.
Water supply and sanitation in Lebanon is characterized by a number of achievements and challenges. The achievements include the reconstruction of infrastructure after the 1975–90 Civil War and the 2006 war with Israel, as well as the reform of the water and sanitation sector through a water law passed in 2000. The law created four Regional Water Establishments to consolidate numerous smaller utilities.
The diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are the relationship between two Arab nations in the Middle East. Lebanon has an embassy in Riyadh and Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Beirut.
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