The Battle of the Evacuation of Foreign Forces from Lebanon

1943-1946

Abstract

    The research deals with the battle to evacuate foreign forces from Lebanon, after Lebanon gained independence. The evacuation from Lebanese soil was a reality more wonderful than fiction, a dream truer than reality, and a source of happiness for all Lebanese. The research also deals with the external factors that facilitated the evacuation of foreign armies and the impact of World War II on Lebanon's entry into the battle to evacuate foreign forces.

     Lebanon was suffering from numerous problems after the transfer of power to the Vichy government, the shift in French public policy, and emerging problems with Britain. Furthermore, the policy of the new High Commissioner, Dentz, towards Lebanon was no longer clear.

     The impact of the war on Lebanon was not limited to the political and economic aspects, but extended to the living and administrative reality of state institutions. World War II had a direct impact on Lebanon's independence, and one of the priorities of national tasks after independence was to demand the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon. The Lebanese Parliament played a heroic role in independence and withdrawal.

      In addition to external factors that facilitated the evacuation, the issue of the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon sparked controversy between two Lebanese factions: the Constitutional Bloc, led by Bechara El Khoury, which received British support for the removal of the mandate and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, and the National Bloc, led by Emile Edde, which adhered to all aspects of the mandate and the French presence in Lebanon.

Lebanon insisted on refusing to sign any treaty with France before the evacuation, despite the fact that the French and British insisted on doing so, and as a result of British interventions alongside Syria and Lebanon, to force the French to withdraw without signing any treaty, the French authorities were forced to evacuate Syria in 1945, and Lebanon on December 31, 1946.     Colonel Fouad Chehab took over the command of the Lebanese Army, after the Lebanese divisions had been under the command of the French Army.