Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun The new president of Lebanon.

The 61-year-old becomes Lebanon’s 14th president, filling a more than two-year presidential vacuum left by his predecessor Michel Aoun – who is not related to the new president.

The appointment of Joseph Aoun comes out of a major dilemma. The Lebanese Parliament had met on 12 previous occasions to vote to choose a president, but failed to elect a president.

Support for Aoun in Parliament came from a wide range of political figures, and he ultimately received 99 votes out of 128 seats in Parliament in the second round of voting.

But who is Joseph Aoun? Why did it take the Lebanese parliament so long to agree that he was the right person to lead the country?

Military experience

Born in 1964 in Sin El Fil, a northern suburb of Beirut, Aoun rose to prominence during his time as commander of the Lebanese Army, a position he ascended to in 2017 and which, like the president of the republic, must be filled by the president of the republic. He is from the Maronite Christian Aoun sect.

The official Lebanese Army biography of Aoun indicates that he joined the military academy in 1983, during the Lebanese Civil War.

He has steadily risen through the ranks, undergoing various training in Lebanon and abroad, including with the US counterterrorism program. He also received the Lebanese War Medal three times, in addition to many other medals and decorations.

In August 2017, shortly after taking charge of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Aoun used his counter-terrorism training by launching an operation targeting ISIS fighters who had spent years in the mountainous terrain between Syria and Lebanon – Especially on the outskirts of Christian villages Ras Baalbek and Al-Qaa in the northeastern Bekaa Valley.

The success of the operation strengthened Aoun’s position. Aoun was also able to use his years at the head of the Lebanese Army to establish close relationships with various regional and international actors, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar – a network that was particularly instrumental in rallying support around Aoun on behalf of the government. presidency.

Economic and political crises

Aoun’s term as commander of the Lebanese Army coincided with an extremely difficult period for the country.

The years-long economic crisis has left millions of Lebanese suffering, and many soldiers in the army have been forced to take up second jobs to make ends meet.

The economic crisis is seen as a symbol of Lebanon’s broader governance crisis. The sectarian political system has entrenched a crumbling political old age, linked to corruption and political mismanagement.

Horror Beirut explosion The events of August 2020, which resulted in the deaths of more than 220 people, heightened the feeling that the country’s rulers had completely failed the Lebanese people.

When President Michel Aoun vacated the presidency in October 2022, the Lebanese Parliament was unable to agree on a successor, despite meeting repeatedly to vote. This has effectively paralyzed the Lebanese state, just as there was a need to act to confront the economic challenges facing the country.

The institution for which Aoun was responsible, the Lebanese Army, was also widely viewed as weaker than the Shiite Hezbollah group, another factor that eroded the effectiveness of the Lebanese state.

To make matters worse for the country, the Israeli war on Gaza quickly spread to Lebanon, where Hezbollah began exchanging fire with Israel on October 8, 2023, which eventually culminated after two months of devastating Israeli bombing and ground invasion that killed more than Of 4000 people. people, culminating in a ceasefire agreement on November 27 last year.

an opportunity

But despite the death and destruction, the resolution of the war has finally opened the way to choosing a president, with international and domestic pressure growing to find a solution and send a message that Lebanon will begin to rebuild.

Aoun, who is starting to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate in 2023, was the man who took advantage of this opportunity.

He kept the Lebanese army out of the war with Israel, despite the deaths of more than 40 Lebanese soldiers during that period, and is seen as an important figure in ensuring Lebanon adheres to the ceasefire, which stipulates that Hezbollah must withdraw. From the south of the Litani River and is replaced by the Lebanese army to ensure Israel’s withdrawal beyond the borders defined by the United Nations between Lebanon and Israel.

It is worth noting that Israel welcomed Aoun’s appointment.

But outside of the external and internal support that Aoun enjoys, it is difficult to define him politically, and this may be one of the reasons for his success in being chosen as president.

Little is known about his political views, and he rarely gives interviews – although he criticized politicians in 2021 over Lebanon’s financial crisis, saying soldiers were going hungry.

Aoun did not state a clear position on Hezbollah’s arsenal of weapons, but he pledged in his inauguration speech to “affirm the state’s right to monopolize the carrying of weapons.” It remains to be seen what steps he will take to enforce this, and it will be difficult to see Hezbollah acquiescing to any request to disarm.

The new president also pledged to rebuild areas targeted by Israel, including the south and the Beirut suburbs.

His emphasis on national unity comes at a rare moment of agreement. Aoun’s appointment ends a bitter period of parliamentary division.

But it will take much more than that for us to prove to the Lebanese people that the country has now truly turned a corner, and that its political leadership has the potential to actually improve the lives of millions of Lebanese – a role in which it has failed many. Years.