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I think that the CIA website was not supposed to go in the details of historical background and ethnicity of the Lebanese people. It is much easier for them to consider both Lebanese Muslims and Lebanese Christians as Arabs. The "Identity" of Lebanon has been always a subject of heated debate and controversy over the last 80 years in Lebanon, and in fact it was one of the main reasons for the 15 years of the Lebanese civil war from 1975 to 1990.

When present day Lebanon was first established as an independent nation in 1943 Lebanese Christian did not want to consider Lebanon as an Arab country but Lebanese Muslim wanted to so, therefore they came to an agreement in the middle where they called Lebanon a country with "Arabic Face" rather than an Arab country.

After the defeat of the Lebanese Christians at the end the civil war at the hand of the Syrian Baath terrorist regime and their Lebanese Muslim allies, the "Taaef agreement" which rewrote the Lebanese Constitution included the phrase that Lebanon is an Arab country. Despite this, still the vast majority of Lebanese Christians, including myself, do not consider themselves Arabs.