Lebanon was known for its natural resources.
Lebanon . Because of its financial power and diversity in its heyday , Lebanon was referred to as the `` Switzerland of the East '' during the 1960s , and its capital , Beirut , attracted so many tourists that it was known as `` the Paris of the Middle East '' . In spite of these troubles , Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world , to the exclusion of the oil-rich economies of the Persian Gulf .