The French prohibition on a Middle East republic (7)
I believe the answer is:
lebanon
'a middle east republic' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'the french prohibition on' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'prohibition' becomes 'ban' (ban is a kind of prohibition).
'le'+'ban'+'on'='LEBANON'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lebanon that I've seen before include "Beirut's country" , "Neighbour of Israel" , "Middle Eastern region" , "Middle East country" , "Nab Noel in eastern Med. country" .)