Syrians in Lebanon () refers to the Syrian migrant workers and, more recently, to the Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon during the Syrian Civil War. The relationship between Lebanon and Syria includes Maronite-requested aid during Lebanon's Civil War which led to a 29-year occupation of Lebanon by Syria ending in 2005. Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, refugees began entering Lebanon in 2011. Lebanon's response towards the influx of refugees has been criticized as negative, with the Lebanese government leaving them undocumented and limited and attacks on Syrian refugees by Lebanese citizens which go unaddressed by authorities. Despite the strained relationship between the Syrians and Lebanese, taking into consideration only Syrian refugees, Lebanon has the highest number of refugees per capita in the world, with one refugee per four nationals. The power dynamic and position of Syria and Lebanon changed drastically in such a short amount of time, it is inevitable that sentiments and prejudices prevailed despite progressions and changes in circumstance. From the years of 2011–2016, there was an influx of over 1.5 million refugees from Syria to the neighboring country of Lebanon. Attempting to aid this number of people on top of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees from the past, created further economic and politic destruction for the country. Economically, Lebanon was overspending on the 1.5 million people who arrived since 2011. Politically, the Lebanese felt the need to choose a side in the Syrian war. In hopes to eliminate these issues, in 2016 the Lebanese government who has never had border laws created a border law banning people from entering the country without proper documentation (Gonzalez). Background While both Lebanon and Syria were under Ottoman rule until 1918, what was then known as Mount Lebanon became home to Maronite Christian and Druze minorities who immigrated from all over the region, including modern day Syria. These religious differences, as well as the relative isolation due to the mountainous terrain, accompanied with the fact that Mount Lebanon maintained a self-governing status in the Ottoman Empire, were some of the main factors that led to the division of the two countries under the French Mandate from 1923, following a period of uncertainty in the region. After both Lebanon and Syria gained independence from the French in the 1940s, they maintained their own autonomy (although Syria did not officially recognize Lebanon's independence until 2008) until 1976 when Syria occupied