[stork19]

There was an autonomous Lebanon of one form of another since at least the 16th century, though. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Lebanon_Emirate

[einpoklum]

+1, but readers should also note that:

* It included large areas which are outside and to the North of present-day Lebanon, and

* It was still part of "Ottoman Syria": https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Syria , which was kind of a maximum version of what's described in my previous link