Lebanon - Government
	Israel´s new coalition Government, formed in September 1984, pledged a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. However while the Lebanese authorities demanded that UNIFIL police the Israeli-Lebanese border, by the time the Israeli withdrawal was completed, in June 1985, Israel had ensured that a narrow buffer zone, policed by the SLA, was in place along the border. With the Israeli presence in Lebanon reduced to a token force, Syria withdrew about one-third of its troops from the Beka´a valley in July, leaving some 25,000 in position. In March 1989 violent clashes erupted in Beirut between Awn´s Lebanese army and its allies, on the one hand, and Syrian troops and their local militias, on the other. The renewed violence prompted more intensive diplomatic efforts to implement a permanent cease-fire. An emergency summit meeting of Arab leaders in Casablanca, Morocco, in May resulted in the formation of a Tripartite Arab Committee, comprising King Hassan of Morocco, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and President Chadli of Algeria. The Committee aimed to implement a cease-fire agreement within six months, monitored by an Arab observer force, and to act as an intermediary between the conflicting forces in Lebanon, in order to facilitate an agreement on political reform and the election of a new President. In late May 1991 Lebanon and Syria signed a bilateral treaty establishing formal structures for the creation of links between the two countries in political, military and economic affairs, and confirming the role of the Syrian army as guarantor of the security plans enshrined in the Ta´if agreement. The treaty was immediately denounced by Israel as a further step towards the formal transformation of Lebanon into a Syrian protectorate, while its opponents within Lebanon denounced it as a threat to the country´s independence. In September (as envisaged in the May agreement) Lebanon and Syria signed a mutual security agreement. Syrian forces began to withdraw from Beirut in March 1992, in preparation for their scheduled withdrawal to eastern Lebanon by September. Lebanon´s first President, from 1943 until 1952, was Sheikh Bishara el-Khoury. His successor was Camille Chamoun, whose reforms included the enfranchisement of women. Lebanon's National Assembly held an election on October 15, 1998, to choose a successor to outgoing President Elias Hrawi. The result was a foregone conclusion, according to analysts. Syria - the power broker in Lebanon, with 35,000 troops stationed there -had already given the nod to army commander General Emile Lahoud, 62. The conflict in southern Lebanon between Hezbollah fighters and the SLA and Israeli armed forces escalated sharply in October 1992, and again in the following month. In December the Lebanese army took up positions in southern suburbs of Beirut for the first time in eight years; no resistance was reported from Hezbollah, which had hitherto effectively controlled the areas. Fighting in southern Lebanon continued at intervals in subsequent months. Lebanon reacted cautiously to the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian Self-Rule in the Occupied Territories, signed by Israel and the PLO in September 1993. Fears were expressed, for instance, that if the Declaration were to provoke violent confrontations between rival Palestinian factions, most of the violence would be likely to occur in Lebanon, endangering the country´s reconstruction. There was also concern regarding the ultimate fate of the estimated 350,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon: the Lebanese Government consistently asserted its opposition to the granting of permanent settlement and civil rights to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.