As Lebanon is engulfed in violence Martha Linden looks at how the 'Switzerland of the Middle East' descended into destruction while Tim Moynihan examines the origins of the latest crisis.

The name Lebanon derives from the Semitic word for white, a reference to the snow-capped Mount Lebanon in the country.

The small, largely mountainous country is located at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean and is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south.

The country was once known, before the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, as the "Switzerland of the Middle East" because of its conflict-free status.

The capital, Beirut, was a byword for romance and elegance, with French-style architecture and boulevards.

The origins and development of the civil war are complex and have their roots in fighting between Palestinian refugees and indigenous groups in the south of the country.

Syria was drawn into the conflict and its forces remained in Lebanon, dominating its government and occupying the country until 2005.

Israel has a history of invading Lebanon - first in 1978 in what was called the Litani River Operation, launched after cross-border attacks by Palestinian groups in southern Lebanon against civil-ians in Israel.

In 1982 Israel again invaded Lebanon, with the aim of evicting the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) armed forces, only withdrawing from its designated "security zone" in 2000.

Hezbollah, a radical Islamic group meaning "Party of God", was established in 1982 to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. It has long been seen as an ally of Syria.

The group is perhaps best known in Britain as the organisation behind the kidnap of Terry Waite, the former adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others in the late 1980s. It built up a powerful base in southern Lebanon and has seats in the country's parliament.

Israel claims Hezbollah has been given Iranian missiles capable of hitting Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - well over 100 miles from the Lebanese border.

It has also alleged that Iranian troops are inside Lebanon helping Hezbollah mount the attack. Iran has denied the claims.

The recent crisis erupted last week when two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by forces operating across the border and suspicions fell on Hezbollah.

Lebanese-born academics working in Britain spoke of their grief at seeing infrastructure - built up since the end of the war in 1990 - destroyed and a descent once more into tragedy and destruction.

Dr Youssef Choueiri, reader in Islamic studies at Manchester University, who was born in Lebanon, denounced the attacks by Israel as "outright aggression" against his country of birth.

"It is very sad. Lebanon had managed to rebuild most of its infrastructure and become once again a normal state. I visited Lebanon last month and I was very pleased with everything I saw. I was thinking of going back to Lebanon. Nobody could guess that something like this was going to happen. It is like a thunderbolt."

He claimed the action must have been condoned by the US as part of its wider policy in the Middle East.

He said: "It is going to change the whole political configuration in Lebanon. Lebanon will never be the same again. "There are two possibilities - if Israel manages to smash Hezbollah and defeat it and force it to disappear as a military force then Lebanon will become much weaker and will be forced to accept all Israeli terms and there will be a peace agreement on Israeli terms.

"If on the other hand Hezbollah emerges as a powerful military force and Israel fails to defeat it decisively, it will dominate Lebanese politics for years. That means Syria and Iran will also have a say in what Lebanon will look like for the next 20 years.

"Both are not ideal scenarios." George Asseily, chairman of the Centre for Lebanese Studies, based in Oxford and London, who left Beirut a week ago, said he was "very, very upset" by the developments in Lebanon.

He was concerned for the safety of his mother and his niece who were still in the city.

"Beirut had recovered practically from the devastation of the war and new areas of Beirut were flourishing.

"The place was full of tourists - Europeans, Arabs and Americans - and places were starting to boom again," he said.

He added: "They are talking about destroying Hezbollah. In fact they are not destroying Hezbollah, they are actually destroying the country and the infrastructure.

"They are making Hezbollah more popular because people are becoming radicalised."