Military:  LEBANON

Military branches:

Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF): Lebanese Army ((Al Jaysh al Lubnani) includes Lebanese Navy (Al Quwwat al Bahiriyya al Lubnaniya), Lebanese Air Force (Al Quwwat al Jawwiya al Lubnaniya)) (2013)

Military service age and obligation:

17-30 years of age for voluntary military service; 18-24 years of age for officer candidates; no conscription (2013)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,081,016

females age 16-49: 1,115,349 (2010 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 920,825

females age 16-49: 941,806 (2010 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 36,856

female: 35,121 (2010 est.)

Military expenditures:

country comparison to the world: 55

Transnational Issues:  LEBANON

Disputes - international:

lacking a treaty or other documentation describing the boundary, portions of the Lebanon-Syria boundary are unclear with several sections in dispute; since 2000, Lebanon has claimed Shab'a Farms area in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights; the roughly 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon has been in place since 1978

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 436,154 (Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)) (2011); 6,516 (Iraq) (2012); 812,268 (Syria) (2013)

IDPs: at least 47,000 (1975-90 civil war, 2007 Lebanese security forces' destruction of Palestinian refugee camp) (2011)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: Lebanon is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking; Eastern European women and children are transported through Lebanon for sexual exploitation in other Middle Eastern countries; women from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Madagascar, Congo, Togo, Cameroon, and Nigeria are recruited by agencies to work in domestic service but are often subject to conditions indicative of forced labor, including the withholding of passports, nonpayment of wages, restricted movement, threats, and abuse; Lebanon's artiste visa program enabling women to work as dancers for three months in the adult entertainment industry sustains a significant sex trade; anecdotal information indicates some Lebanese children are victims of forced labor, such as street begging and commercial sexual exploitation; Syrian refugee women and children in Lebanon are at increased risk of sex trafficking

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Lebanon does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; the government conducts investigations of human trafficking and possibly some prosecutions but for another year did not report convicting any trafficking offenders or officials complicit in human trafficking; the government continues to lack a formal system for identifying victims and does not have a policy to protect victims from being punished for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked; NGOs, rather than the government, provide victim assistance and protection (2013)

Illicit drugs:

cannabis cultivation dramatically reduced to 2,500 hectares in 2002 despite continued significant cannabis consumption; opium poppy cultivation minimal; small amounts of Latin American cocaine and Southwest Asian heroin transit country on way to European markets and for Middle Eastern consumption; money laundering of drug proceeds fuels concern that extremists are benefiting from drug trafficking

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