Imagine the most beautiful overlook ever. Now look at it from above. You might have half the idea of how impressive of a sight we saw from the top of a mountain overlooking Lebanon. You could see everything for 30 miles. The sky was bluer than the sea, the clouds were basically nonexistent and the cool breeze kept us comfortable, but that landscape was holding enough firepower to destroy the entire country of Israel. Lebanon is the only Muslim country in the Middle East that is a Democracy. Sarit Zehavi, who was a Major (Res.) of the IDF intelligence corps for 14 years and is well known for briefing government officials around the world, such as US senators, politicians, or military, explained to us that before the first world war, Lebanon was controlled by the Ottomans. Lebanon then became a French colony, with hopes to put a Christian country in the Middle East. Sarit always went back to one quote, “All politics in the Middle East go back to one thing, Religion”. That is certainly the case. Israel and the other 14 countries in the Middle East do not understand the concept of “Separation of Church and State”. At first Lebanon was a normal government with the Christians as the majority. But, as they started taking over more land, the Muslim population grew to where they were equal with the Christians. A civil war broke out in the 1980’s between the official Lebanese government and multiple internal terrorist groups, such a Hezbollah, who are now in charge of Lebanon. Now, in the 21st century, the Prime Minister is always a Sunni, the Head of Parliament is always a Shiite, and the President would always be a Christian. Parliament was split 50/50 between Muslim and Christian. The problem with Lebanon for Israel is that it is a major security issue. During the civil war in the 1980’s, terrorist were so close to taking over northern cities in Israel, that Israel had to take over a 4 mile defence in Lebanon. The problem is that this gave Israel control of the population in those 4 miles, but the people that lived there didn’t become Israeli citizens. Lebanon is still upset about this and their military leaders, a terrorist organization called Hezbollah, places hidden rockets along the border of Israel and Lebanon. Israel has maybe 30 seconds to find the rockets before they are fired. If they do find them in time, Israel has to go through a procedure to guarantee that they won’t be war criminals. This procedure has them warn the population, assess the casualty report, make sure that if they do blow up the launcher that it will be precise, and notify their commanding officer. Of course the Iron Dome will help destroy missiles that do not get destroyed in their silos, but better safe than sorry. Lebanon is a beautiful country with enough firepower to destroy the entire country of Israel.