Flag of lebanon

The Lebanese flag is regulated by Article 5 of the Lebanese Constitution.

The full text of Article 5 of the Constitution currently reads:

The Lebanese flag is composed of horizontal strips red, white and red, with the green cedar in the white strip. The measure of the white strip is equal to that of the two red ones together. The cedar is in the middle and the top tip plays the upper red strip and the base plays the lower red strip. The width of the cedar has to be equal to one third of the white strip.

The ratio is not mentioned in the constitution, but it is 2:3. Its meaning is not clear, but white is the color of the Yemenites and Maronites, while red is that of the Kaisites.

This flag is national and state, on land and at sea, and it also has other uses with some variations:

• Like a bow flag.
• As a flag of the Navy of War
• As a flag of the Earth Army (smallest ceremonies with golden inscription on top and, on every corner, inside the red, golden laurels; on the back, it is part of an upward, white and red diagonal, with the golden emblem of the Army in the center)
• Banderín triangular, decorative and for the Presidential Guard.
• Vertical, decorative.

The Air Force uses a red emblem with a white triangle with three equal sides, inside which is a green disk.

History

Since the 17th century, the Maronite Christians of Lebanon used cedar as an emblem for their white flags. The first certain information of its use was in October 1848. The short-lived Republic of Kisrawan, proclaimed in 1858, used this flag.

In World War I the Lebanese soldiers (fighting in the Ottoman Army) used a flag consisting of a red Saint Andrew's cross on a white background, and the dark green cedar on top, but it was a military and not a national flag.

In 1918 the Lebanese raised the white flag with green cedar at the bottom according to the design of émigré writer Shukri al-Juri and Naum Labaki, prepared before the Lebanese revolt of 1918, which preceded the French occupation. This flag was used since 1919 under the authority of the Mejlis or administrative council. With the region occupied by the French that same year, the Sikes-Picot Treaty of 1916 between France and the United Kingdom entered into force, leaving Lebanon integrated into the Syrian Mandate after the San Remo Conference in April 1920. When it broke out Fighting against the king of Syria, a kingdom of which the Lebanese were nominally a part, Greater Lebanon declared itself independent under French mandate. General Gourad declared the districts of Beeka, Hasbaia, Baalbeck and Rashaia French possession on August 3, 1920, which were traditionally part of Syria, considering them the basis of "Greater Lebanon", which was proclaimed in Beirut on September 1, 1920 with current Lebanese borders.

Starting this year, the same white flag with cedar began to be used but with the French one in the left corner, and the cedar moved to the bottom, as well as the French national flag with a green cedar in the upper part. bottom of the white band

The first Lebanese flag emerged definitively in 1921, and it was a flag of France with a cedar tree in the center. It was proposed in 1919 to the president Poincaré by the politician Naum Moukarzel, leader of the Movement for the Lebanese Renaissance. Greater Lebanon was one of the French mandates and from 1922 it was administered jointly with the other Syrian mandates (Syria-Greater Lebanon entity), but from 1924 it obtained separate administration.

A new constitution that came into force on May 23, 1926 established an autonomous republic under French rule, but no change to the flag occurred. Article 5 of the Constitution said: "The Lebanese flag is blue, white and red, with the cedar in the white part," that is, the French flag with a cedar in the center.

On November 26, 1941, General Georges Catroux, on behalf of General Charles de Gaulle and supported by British troops, proclaimed the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon. General Dentz, High Commissioner appointed by Vichy France, handed over power to him. However, independence was not really effective until 1945, when the allied troops left the country. As it was not considered appropriate to continue the use of the French flag, the white flag with the cedar tree was used again.

Lebanese flag wading in Beit ed-Dine, the first presidential residence in the country.

On November 11, 1943, there were demonstrations against the arrest of President Bechara Khalil al-Khoury and some ministers, carried out by the French High Commissioner after Parliament had repealed, at the request of the President, the articles of the Constitution that enabled the guardianship of France over the country. Seven deputies entered Parliament and decided to establish a new national flag, which Henri Pharaon probably designed. A provisional government was established at Bechamun which accepted the flag but is believed to have divided it into three equal horizontal stripes with the green cedar in the white band ('with the Lebanese flag' within the white band). The design of the parliamentarians was made by Saade Munla in Parliament and was brought to Bechamun by members of the Kataeb and Najjad (Renaissance) party on November 19, 1943, the flag being hoisted on Sunday, November 21, 1943. The drawing of the Parliamentary design shows a flag in 1:2:1 stripes but with the cedar much less natural. Article 5 of the Constitution was changed: "The Lebanese flag is red, white and red in horizontal stripes with the green cedar in the center of the white stripe." November 21 was established in 1979 as "National Flag Day".

On November 22, 1943, Catroux, who had returned to Lebanon to end the riots, freed the rulers and restored them to their posts, which is why this date is considered Lebanese Independence Day. The new flag becomes official on December 7, 1943. On December 27, Paris recognized the Lebanese Republic and agreed to the evacuation of French troops starting in 1944. The start of the evacuation lasted until 1945 and was not completed until December from 1946.