06 January 2009 06:50 GMT
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The country
Beirut is the capital city of Lebanon, a tiny mountainous country located in the eastern Mediterranean. It is roughly half the size of Wales, and was home to a population of around 3.8 million in 2007, with around half thought to be living in the greater Beirut area.
Lebanon shares a short – and disputed – border with Israel to the south, and is enveloped by Syria to the north and east. Directly west across the Mediterranean Sea is the island of Cyprus.
Beirut is located on a broad peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean, around halfway down the Lebanese coastline. The city’s sprawling suburbs stretch northwards towards the historic town of Byblos, and up into the hills east of the capital.
Twin mountain ranges run north to south down the country, one roughly following the contours of the Syrian-Lebanese border and the other rising up steeply from the coast into the country’s highest point, the 3090-metre Qornet as-Sawda.
In the centre of the country, at an altitude of around 1000 metres, is the Bekaa Valley. This fertile, flat-bedded land has traditionally been the agricultural and winemaking capital of Lebanon – as well as the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during the 1975-90 civil war.
The airport
Rafik Hariri International Airport is located in the southern coastal suburbs of Beirut, around 8km from the city centre.
The airport is close to the main coastal highway which runs from Beirut down to the southern towns of Sidon and Sour (Tyre), and also the inland road which leads from the coast into the Chouf mountains.
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