Arab, Lebanese general

The Lebanese of Israel are the former South Lebanon Army fighters and their families who crossed the border when Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, fearing Hezbollah reprisals. Of some 7,000 who fled, about 3,500 remain, most of them Maronite Catholics with smaller numbers of Shia Muslims, Druze and other Christians, living in northern towns within sight of the hills they left. They hold Israeli citizenship and are registered simply as Lebanese; many reject an Arab label and speak of a Phoenician heritage. Their children grew up in Hebrew-language schools, often serve in the army and text in Hebrew or in Lebanese Arabic written in Hebrew letters, while their parents still sing Lebanese songs at memorial gatherings and hope one day to return.

Lebanese Arabs have lived in Kuwait for more than a century, since the first emigrant arrived by way of Basra around 1915, and today number about 45,000 to 50,000. Merchants, bankers, engineers, doctors, teachers and media and hospitality professionals, they are one of the most established Arab expatriate communities, with a business council, women's associations and their own churches. Unlike most groups in Kuwait they are religiously mixed: Shia and Sunni Muslims live alongside Maronite, Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox Christians. Lebanese restaurants and bakeries selling manakish and mezze are part of everyday Kuwaiti life. Since 2021 the community has lived under suspicion over Hezbollah, with residencies refused to some Shia Lebanese and arrests and deportations during the 2026 war with Iran.

Lebanese in Qatar, about 40,000 people, are a professional and often trilingual community of bankers, managers, engineers, doctors, teachers, chefs and media and advertising specialists, established enough to have founded their own school in Doha in 1976 and joined by many more after Lebanon's financial collapse in 2019 and the Beirut port explosion of 2020. Unlike most Arab expatriate groups they are religiously mixed: Maronite, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Christians alongside Sunni and Shia Muslims. The Maronites, about 12,000 strong, have their own parish and a 3,000-seat church of St Charbel, the largest in Qatar, built on land given by the state. Lebanese restaurants and bakeries are part of everyday life in Doha, and families keep close ties to their home villages, returning every summer and voting in Lebanon's elections at the Lebanese School in West Bay.

About 53,000 Lebanese live in Saudi Arabia, most of them in Riyadh and Jeddah, one of the most mixed communities in the kingdom: Sunni and Shia Muslims, Maronite, Orthodox and Catholic Christians, Armenians and a few Druze. Lebanese bankers, contractors, engineers, doctors, advertisers and restaurateurs have worked in the kingdom since the oil boom; Rafic Hariri made his fortune there in construction before becoming Lebanon's prime minister, and his company Saudi Oger employed thousands until it collapsed in 2017. The community has shrunk as Saudi relations with Beirut soured over Hezbollah, reaching a full diplomatic break in 2021, though Lebanon's economic collapse since 2019 has pushed others to seek Gulf jobs. Lebanese restaurants serving manakish, tabbouleh and grills are a fixture of Saudi city life, and Christian families keep their faith privately at home.

Lebanese are one of the largest and most visible Arab communities in the United Arab Emirates, roughly 150,000 people, from about 90,000 Lebanese citizens to some 200,000 counting those who also hold Canadian, French or other passports. They came as traders, bankers and teachers before the federation was founded and in waves after Lebanon's civil war, its 2019 banking collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion and the 2024 war, and they are prominent in banking, advertising, media, hospitality and fashion in Dubai. Unlike most Arab expatriate communities they are religiously mixed: Maronite, Orthodox and Melkite Christians worship alongside Sunni, Shia and Druze compatriots, and Maronite Masses in Arabic are celebrated in Dubai's Catholic churches. Lebanese bakeries selling man'oushe flatbread and mezze restaurants are part of everyday life across the Emirates. Shia Lebanese live more quietly, since hundreds suspected of sympathy for Hezbollah have been deported since 2009.