Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Israel
and Syria

33 50 N, 35 50 E

Middle East

total: 10,400 sq km
land: 10,230 sq km
water: 170 sq km

about 0.7 times the size of Connecticut

total: 454 km
border countries: Israel 79 km, Syria 375 km

225 km

territorial sea: 12 nm

Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry
summers; Lebanon mountains experience heavy winter snows

narrow coastal plain; Al Biqa' (Bekaa Valley) separates
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains

lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Qurnat as Sawda' 3,088 m

limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a
water-deficit region, arable land

arable land: 21%
permanent crops: 9%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 8%
other: 61% (1993 est.)

860 sq km (1993 est.)

dust storms, sandstorms

deforestation; soil erosion;
desertification; air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and
the burning of industrial wastes; pollution of coastal waters from raw
sewage and oil spills

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Dumping,
Marine Life Conservation

Nahr al Litani only major river in Near East not
crossing an international boundary; rugged terrain historically helped
isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on
religion, clan, and ethnicity