>At the San Remo Conference held in Italy in April 1920, the Allies gave France a mandate over >Greater Syria. France then appointed General Henri Gouraud to implement the mandate provisions.
>On September 1, 1920, General Gouraud proclaimed the establishment of Greater Lebanon with its >present boundaries and with Beirut as its capital.

The French, being Catholics, wanted to give the Maronite Christians who had traditionally been the majority population of Mount Lebanon, a country of their own--

From LebGuide-History of Lebanon, French Mandate which, incidentally, is part of a much larger and more detailed account of the History of Lebanon--worth reading--