The Lebanese Flag Article 5 of the Lebanese Constitution - The Lebanese flag shall be composed of three horizontal stripes, a white stripe between two red ones. The width of the white stripe shall be equal to that of both red stripes. In the center of and occupying one-third of the white stripe, is a green cedar tree with its top touching the upper red stripe, and its base touching the lower red stripe.
The two red-coloured bands symbolize martyrdom; the white-colored band stands for the Lebanese snow-capped mountain peaks; and the cedar tree in the center, which has characterized Lebanon since its birth, symbolizes immortality and tolerance.
I've seen variations of the flag,... what's with that? You may come across a Lebanese flag where the colour brown is used in drawing the trunk of the Cedar. This is a common mistake, the Cedar tree should be drawn in green for the flag to be official.
After the First World War, when Lebanon was under French mandate, the French tricolour was used with a cedar tree in the middle. The constitution of Lebanon, promulgated on 23rd May 1926, said in Article 5 - The Lebanese flag is blue, white, red with a cedar in the white section. This article was changed on 7 December 1943, and the Lebanese flag (as we know it today) was constitutionally adopted.
For special festive occasions, such as Independence Day, a Lebanese flag which is a variant on the horizontal flag is hoisted typically along light and telephone poles. It is a long vertical flag with vertical colour fields, red-white-red, with the green cedar in the center, touching both reds.
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