Page "History of Lebanon" Paragraph 31

The long siege of Deir al Qamar found a Maronite garrison holding out against Druze forces backed by Ottoman soldiers ; the area in every direction was despoiled by the besiegers.

In July 1860, with European intervention threatening, the Turkish government tried to quiet the strife, but Napoleon III of France sent 7, 000 troops to Beirut and helped impose a partition: The Druze control of the territory was recognized as the fact on the ground, and the Maronites were forced into an enclave, arrangements ratified by the Concert of Europe in 1861.

They were confined to a mountainous district, cut off from both the Biqa and Beirut, and faced with the prospect of ever-growing poverty.

Resentments and fears would brood, ones which would resurface in the coming decades.