Lebanon

The Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center is a large multi-purpose facility, in downtown Beirut. Lebanon's largest such complex, it... hosts exhibitions , conferences, concerts and private events. It opened on 28 November 2001. American pop-R&B diva Mariah Carey gave the Beirut concert of her Charmbracelet World Tour on 24 February 2004 at the BIEL. British pop musician Phil Collins in 2005 took a part of a charity concert for children cancert at the BIEL. On 10 June 2006, rapper 50 Cent and The G-Unit performed their first concert in the Arab world at the BIEL.
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The Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque is a mosque located in Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. It was built between 2002 and 2007 by the former... Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was buried beside it. It was inaugurated by his son Saad Hariri on October 17, 2008. According to the architect, Azmi Fakhuri, the blue-domed mosque has an Ottoman inspiration, copying the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul. The decorative painting and ornamentation were done by artist Harout Bastajian, owner and founder of The Art of Mosques, in 2005.
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The Tyre raid was a night mission by the Israel Defense Forces naval commando unit, Shayetet 13, in Tyre, South Lebanon, on August 5, 2006. The... target was an apartment building, allegedly housing Hezbollah leaders responsible for the rocket attack on Hadera a day earlier. Lebanese sources reported that the IDF commando forces arrived in helicopters around 1:00 a.m. and landed in an orange grove near the city's northern environs. The troops cut through a fence and opened fire on a second floor apartment of an apartment building, which was the apparent target of the raid. The apartment was hit by fire, and eyewitnesses reported its occupants were wounded. Though Israel didn't succeed to kidnap or kill senior Hezbollah officer.,IDF claimed victory and stated that it stopped long-range Hezbollah unit. Hezbollah claimed it had thwarted the attack. When withdrawing from the building exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah gunmen erupted, with Israeli Air Force helicopter gunships providing the soldiers on the ground with fire-support. The clashes were described by Hezbollah spokesman as an "ambush". Some three hours later, at around 4:00 a.m.
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The Dinnieh fighting involved the Islamist group Takfir wa al-Hijra and the Lebanese Army fighting for eight days in the mountainous Dinnieh region,... east of the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli. Over a period of several days, an estimated 13,000 Lebanese army troops backed by tanks and artillery swiftly defeated the group of 200-300 rebels, driving isolated bands of surviving guerrillas into remote areas of north Lebanon. The Lebanese army reported a total of twelve soldiers killed in action, while twenty-five rebels were killed and fifty-five captured.
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Operation Grapes of Wrath is the Israeli Defense Forces code-name for a sixteen-day campaign against Lebanon in 1996 in an attempt to end shelling... of Northern Israel by Hezbollah. Israel conducted more than 1,100 air raids and extensive shelling . A UN installation was also hit by Israeli shelling causing the death of 118 Lebanese civilians . 639 Hezbollah cross-border rocket attacks targeted northern Israel, particularly the town of Kiryat Shemona . Hezbollah forces also participated in numerous engagements with Israeli and South Lebanon Army forces. The conflict was de-escalated on 27 April by a ceasefire agreement banning attacks on civilians. The Israeli army invaded Lebanon for the second time in 1982, in order to stop the Palestinian attacks, starting the 1982 Lebanon War. After three months Israel occupied the capital city of Beirut. Over the next three years the Israeli army partially withdrew, until in 1985 it established what it called the "Security Buffer Zone" in Southern Lebanon.
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The 1958 Lebanon crisis was a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country. It included a U.S. military... intervention. In July 1958, Lebanon was threatened by a civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslims. Tensions with Egypt had escalated earlier in 1956 when pro-western President Camille Chamoun, a Christian, did not break diplomatic relations with the Western powers that attacked Egypt during the Suez Crisis, angering Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. These tensions were further increased when Chamoun showed closeness to the Baghdad Pact. Nasser felt that the pro-western Baghdad Pact posed a threat to Arab nationalism. As a response, Egypt and Syria united into the United Arab Republic . Lebanese Sunni Prime Minister Rashid Karami supported Nasser in 1956 and 1958. Karami formed a national reconciliation government after the 1958 crisis ended. Lebanese Muslims pushed the government to join the newly created United Arab Republic, while the Christians wanted to keep Lebanon aligned with Western powers.
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The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programs. The World Bank's official... goal is the reduction of poverty. According to the World Bank's Articles of Agreement all of its decisions must be guided by a commitment to promote foreign investment, international trade and facilitate capital investment. The World Bank differs from the World Bank Group, in that the World Bank comprises only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association , whereas the former incorporates these two in addition to three more: International Finance Corporation , Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency , and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes . The World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944. The International Monetary Fund, a related institution, is the second. Delegates from many countries attended the Bretton Woods Conference.
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The United Nations , is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security,... economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions. There are 193 member states, including every internationally recognised sovereign state in the world but Vatican City. From its offices around the world, the UN and its specialized agencies decide on substantive and administrative issues in regular meetings held throughout the year.
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The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and... Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a member on 5 May 1945. The Arab League currently has 22 members . The main goal of the league is to "draw closer the relations between member States and co-ordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their independence and sovereignty, and to consider in a general way the affairs and interests of the Arab countries." Through institutions such as the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization and the Economic and Social Council of the Arab League's Council of Arab Economic Unity , the Arab League facilitates political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed to promote the interests of the Arab world.
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Serj Tankian is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, playwright, record producer, poet, and... political activist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional live rhythm guitarist of the rock band System of a Down. During his musical career, Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan , as well as three solo albums Elect the Dead, Imperfect Harmonies and Harakiri. A live orchestral version of Elect the Dead incorporating the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra named Elect the Dead Symphony was released. In 2002, Tankian and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. Tankian also founded the music label Serjical Strike Records. Tankian is ranked 26th in the Hit Parader's Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. On August 12, 2011, Tankian was awarded the Armenian Prime Minister's Medal for his contributions to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the advancement of music.
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Arsinée Khanjian is an Armenian-Canadian actress and producer. In addition to her independent work and stage roles, she is regularly cast by... her husband, Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan, in his films. She has a bachelor's degree in French and Spanish from Concordia University and a master's degree in political science from the University of Toronto. Her husband, Egoyan, credits her for inspiring him to further explore his Armenian roots. She lives in Toronto with her husband and their son, Arshile. She has been announced as a member of the jury for the Cinéfoundation and Short Films sections of the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
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Nasri Shamseddine was a Lebanese singer and actor. His recordings remain very popular in the Arab world. He performed in several films and was... associated for many years with the Lebanese singer Fairuz. Shamseddine was born Nasreddine Moustapha Shamesedine in the village of Joun, in the southern part of the Chouf mountains. As a young man, he spent time in Alexandria and Cairo unsuccessfully looking for work in films. He returned to Beirut and joined the choir of the Lebanese state radio. In the late 1950s, he joined the Lebanese Popular Troupe of the Rahbani brothers, but left in 1960 to embark on a solo career. Shamseddine performed with Fairuz from 1960 until little after the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in 1978. His last appearance in a play with Fairuz was in 1978 in Petra. His last concert with her was in London in 1978, where they sang "Dabket Lebnan" together. Shamseddine suffered a heart attack shortly before a concert in Damascus in 1983. He later collapsed and died on stage during the performance due to a cardiac arrest which followed the attack.
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Dominic John Romulus "Dom" Joly is a British television comedian and journalist. He came to note as the star of Trigger Happy TV, a hidden camera... show that was sold to over seventy countries worldwide. Since then, Joly has continued to make edgy off-beat television like World Shut Your Mouth for BBC1 and Dom Joly's Happy Hour, a spoof travel show for Sky One. Joly is also an author with several books to his name, and an award-winning travel writer for both the Sunday Times and the Mail On Sunday. He writes several regular columns for various UK nationals and periodicals including a weekly sports column for The Independent and an eclectic weekly column for the Independent on Sunday. Joly is currently developing a movie called War Of The Flea in the USA, and published The Dark Tourist in 2010, about dark tourism. He has also completed filming a documentary on Tintin for Channel 4 which aired on 19 March 2010. Joly was a contestant on the tenth series of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!; he finished in fourth place. Joly was born in Yazd, Iran to British parents and speaks French in addition to English.
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Syria SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية‎ Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā;... Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî, officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest. In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians.
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