Location: Middle East, bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Syria.

Geographic coordinates: 33 50 N, 35 50 E

Area: total: 10,452 sq. km

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

Coastline: 225 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 NM

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

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

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0m highest point: Jabal al Makmal 3,087m

Natural resources: limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region

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

Irrigated land: 860 sq. km (1993 est.)

Environment - current issues: 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

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

Geography - note: 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