signed an agreement with Israel in 1983 calling for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian troops from the country, but Syria rejected the plan. Lebanon was soon in chaos, with fighting among the various factions. Prime Minister Rashid Karami was assassinated in 1987. Amin Gemayel's term of office ended in 1988, and the National Assembly failed to elect a new president. An interim government was appointed, headed by Michael Aoun, who declared a "war of liberation" against Syria and rejected the 1989 election of Rene Moawad as president by claiming the latter was merely a Syrian puppet. Aoun refused to surrender power, and Lebanese legislators created a new charter in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, redistributing political power among rival religious groups in parliament. Warfare resumed in 1990, and Aoun was ousted by a Syrian-led military attack in 1990 (Compton's Encyclopedia, 1994, online edition).
Lebanese society is marked by sectarianism and conflict between factions. The dominant culture toda
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