LEBANON (République Libanaise / الجمهورية اللبنانية )

Lebanon (Arabic: لبنان‎ / Lubnān), officially known as the Lebanese Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية‎, /al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah, French: République libanaise), is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus is west across the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon's location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland had contributed to its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km² (4,036 mi²), it is the smallest recognized sovereign state on the mainland Asian continent.

The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn  meaning "white", apparently from its snow-capped peaks. Occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L. The name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. Lebanon as the name of an administrative unit (as opposed to the mountain range) was introduced with the Ottoman reforms of 1861, as the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (Arabic: متصرفية جبل لبنان‎; Turkish: Cebel-i Lübnan Mutasarrıflığı), continued in the name of the State of Greater Lebanon (Arabic: دولة لبنان الكبير‎ Dawlat Lubnān al-Kabīr; French: État du Grand Liban) in 1920, and eventually in the name of the sovereign Republic of Lebanon (Arabic: الجمهورية اللبنانية‎ al-Jumhūrīyah al-Lubnānīyah) upon its independence in 1943.

The Turkish postal system had around 200 post offices in the region and foreign post offices were run by Austria, Great Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. Lebanon used the stamps of Turkey until 1917. Stamps of the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force were available in Lebanon between 21 October 1918 and September 1920. Following the mandate given to France in 1920 and the defeat of Syrian forces in May 1920 at the Battle of Maysalun, Syria was divided in two countries, Syria and Lebanon; and both were under French military occupation. Stamps of France overprinted for use in Syria were used between 1919 and 1923 overprinted T.E.O. (Territoires Ennemis Occupés) or O.M.F. (Occupation Militaire Francaise).

As a League of Nations mandate, Lebanon used the stamps of France, overprinted Syrie Grand Liban in 1923. The postal administrations for Syria and Lebanon were separated in 1924, and the stamps of France overprinted Grand Liban were issued for Lebanon. From 1925 Lebanon had its own stamps marked Grand Liban. The Lebanese Republic was formed on 23 May 1926. At first, stamps were overprinted Republique Libanaise. Later stamps were prepared in the name of the new republic. Lebanon proclaimed independence in November 1941. The French government accepted the independence of Lebanon on November 22, 1943. From the 1940s the term Liban started to be used, which is Lebanon's name in French. Today all stamps of Lebanon are marked simply Liban.

The  Registered cover sent from Beirut, on 20.April.2015 , received on 02.May.2015. 

This is my another cover from Lebanon sent by Ahmad Alkhattab from UAE. This cover is posted from the Historical Biblical place called Siddon ( Saida). Thank You very much Ahmad for sending the precious item.