Lebanese-Egyptian Relations: The Regional Struggle for LebanonLebanon has occupied a pivotal position in Middle East politics since the Second World War. Viewed as the "Pearl of the Orient" by Western governments and others with whom it had close relationships, Lebanon was faced with Egyptian hegemony and the tide of pan-Arab nationalism during Nasser's rule in Cairo. In the late 1950s and 1960s Lebanese leaders of all persuasions faced the constant fear of being swallowed into an Arab-Muslim superstate after the union of Syria and Egypt in 1958. |