Lebanese Independence Day (Arabic: عيد الإستقلال اللبناني Eid Al-Istiqlal, lit. "Festival of the Independence") (French: Independence du Liban) is the national day of Lebanon celebrated on November 22 in commemoration of the end of the French mandate over Lebanon in 1943, after 23 years of mandate rule. After the independence, the modern Lebanese political system was founded in 1943 by an unwritten agreement between the two most prominent Christian and Muslim leaders, Khouri and al-Solh and which was later called the National Pact (al Mithaq al Watani الميثاق الوطني ).
The modern struggle for Lebanese independence can be traced back to the emergence of Fakhr-al-Din II in the late 16th century, a Druze chief who became the first local leader in a thousand years to bring the major sects of Mount Lebanon into sustained mutual interaction. Fakhr-al-Din also brought western Europe back to Mount Lebanon. The French traveler Laurent ďArvieux observed massive French commercial buildings in Sidon, Fakhr-al-Din's political centre, where bustling crowds of Muslims, Maronites, Orthodox Christians and Jews intermingled. Under his rule, printing presses were introduced and Jesuit priests and Catholic nuns encouraged to open schools throughout the land. Fakhr-al-Din's growing influence, disobedience and ambitions threatened Ottoman interests. Ottoman Turkish troops captured Fakhr-al-Din and had him executed in Istanbul in 1635.
In response to a massacre of Maronites by Druze during the 1860 civil war, 6000 French troops landed near Beirut to ostensibly protect the Maronite communities. The Ottoman sultan had no choice but to approve the French landing at Beirut and review the status of Mount Lebanon. In 1861, the Ottomans and five European powers (Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia) negotiated a new political system for Mount Lebanon in a commission chaired by Mehmed Fuad Pasha, the Ottoman foreign minister. The international commission established a tribunal to punish the Druze lords for war crimes and the commission further agreed on an autonomous province of Mount Lebanon. In September 1864, the Ottomans and Europeans signed the règlement organique defining the new entity, including the French recommendation of an elected multi-communal council to advise the governor.
After the imprisonment of the Lebanese officials, the Lebanese MPs reunited in the house of the speaker of parliament, Sabri Hamadé, and assigned the two uncaught ministers Emir Majid Arslan (Minister of National Defence) and Habib Abou Chahla to carry out the functions of the government. The two ministers then moved to Bechamoun and their government became known as the Government of Bechamoun. The Government was provided shelter and protection in the residence of Hussein El Halabi, a recognized leader in Bechamoun. This residence was strategically located providing optimum protection to the ministers.
The newly formed government refused to hold talks with General Catroux or any other mandate official; stressing that any negotiation should be done with the captured government. It also formed a military resistance under the name of the "National Guard", whose supreme commander was Naim Moghabghab, with the help of Adib el Beainy and Munir Takieddine. This military group fought the battle of independence and later became the core of the Lebanese Army that was later formed in 1946 under the leadership of Emir Majid and Naim Moghabghab.
