[G8 Diplomat]

Ethnic Lebanese (Maronites) aren’t even Arabs, they’re Phoenecians.

I’m glad the pro-Western bloc defeated Hezbollah. It’s about time we heard some good news.

[SunkenCiv]

Any notions of pan-Arabism are anathema to Lebanon's Maronites, many of whom deny an Arab heritage and trace their lineage... to the ancient Phoenecians.

This is of course strictly political, because the Phoenician language was Semitic, period. The Lebanese national identity could be an outgrowth of the Phoenician roots, and in any case is preferable to the "Greater Syria" fictions that drive the politics of the Asad dictatorship.

There were a few FR topics about this Phoenician identity movement (': a few years back.