Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun is the new president of Lebanon.
The 61-year-old man becomes the 14th president of Lebanon, as he filled the presidential vacancy of more than two years left by his predecessor, Michel Aoun – who is not related to the new president.
The appointment of Joseph Aoun overcomes a great uproar; Lebanon’s parliament has met 12 times before to vote for a president but failed to elect one.
Aoun’s support in parliament came from many political parties, and he eventually won 99 votes in the 128-seat parliament in the second round of voting.
But who is Joseph Aoun? And why did it take so long for the Lebanese parliament to agree that he is the right person to lead the country?
Military experience
Born in 1964 in Sin el-Fil, an area north of Beirut, Aoun rose to prominence during his tenure as head of the Lebanese army, a position he ascended to in 2017, and, as president of the republic, to be held by a member of Aoun’s sect, Maronite Christianity.
An official Lebanese army biography says Aoun enlisted in the military in 1983, during the Lebanese civil war.
He gradually rose through the ranks, undergoing various training in Lebanon and other countries, including the American counter-terrorism program. He was also awarded the Lebanon War Medal three times, as well as several other awards and decorations.
In August 2017, shortly after taking charge of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), Aoun used his counter-terrorism training to launch an operation targeting ISIL (ISIS) fighters who had spent years in the mountainous region between Syria and Lebanon – particularly on the outskirts of the Christian villages of Ras Baalbek and Qaa in the northeast of the Bekaa Valley.
The success of the operation boosted Aoun’s standing. And Aoun was able to use his years at the top of the LAF to build connections with various regional and international actors, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – a network that has been very effective in gathering support around Aoun’s presidency.
Economic and political issues
Aoun’s appointment as head of the Lebanese army coincided with a time of incredible hardship in the country.
The years-long economic crisis has left millions of Lebanese struggling – many soldiers in the army have had to take on second jobs to make ends meet.
The economic crisis has been seen as a symptom of the governance crisis in Lebanon. The sectarian political system has entrenched political obsolescence, coupled with corruption and political mismanagement.
The horror of the explosion in Beirut in August 2020, which killed more than 220 people, added to the sense that the country’s rulers had completely failed the people of Lebanon.
And when President Michel Aoun left the presidency in October 2022, Lebanon’s parliament could not agree on a successor, despite meeting several times to vote. This left the Lebanese government effectively paralyzed, as action was needed to address the country’s economic challenges.
The institution that Aoun ran, the Lebanese army, was also seen as weaker than the Shia group Hezbollah, another factor undermining the effectiveness of the Lebanese government.
To make matters worse for the country, Israel’s war in Gaza quickly spilled over into Lebanon, as Hezbollah began negotiations with Israel on October 8, 2023, culminating in two months of Israeli bombing and ground attacks that killed more than 4,000. people, and it culminated in a cease-fire agreement on November 27 last year.
An opportunity
But, despite the death and destruction, the war’s resolution paved the way for the eventual election of a president, as international and domestic pressure mounted to find a solution and send a message that Lebanon would begin to rebuild.
Aoun, who was first taken seriously as a candidate for the 2023 presidential election, was the man to take advantage of.
He kept the Lebanese army out of the war with Israel, despite more than 40 Lebanese soldiers being killed at the time, and was seen as a key figure in securing Lebanon’s commitment to a cease-fire, meaning that Hezbollah must withdraw. from south of the Litani River and he will be replaced by the Lebanese army, to ensure that Israel will retreat behind the border defined by the UN between Lebanon and Israel.
Significantly, Israel welcomed Aoun’s appointment.
But without the foreign and domestic support of Aoun, it is difficult to define him politically, perhaps one of the reasons for his success in being elected president.
Not much is known about his political views, and he rarely gave interviews – although in 2021 he criticized politicians for Lebanon’s financial crisis, saying the soldiers were hungry.
Aoun has yet to say what he has to say about Hezbollah’s weapons, but in his opening speech, he vowed to “guarantee the right of the regime to take up arms”. What steps he will take to enforce that remains to be seen, and it will be difficult to see Hezbollah agreeing to any demand for it to disarm.
The new president also pledged to rebuild areas targeted by Israel, including the south and the suburbs of Beirut Dahiyeh.
His emphasis on national unity comes at an unusual time for the deal; Aoun’s appointment ends a painful period of parliamentary division.
But it will take a lot to prove to the Lebanese people that the country has truly turned around, and that its political leadership has the potential to improve the lives of millions of Lebanese – a role it has failed to fulfill for many. years.
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