Who is Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s new president after two-year deadlock?

After more than two years without a head of state, 13 parliamentary sessions and in recent weeks an intense diplomatic push, Lebanon's legislature elected army chief Gen Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday.

The 60-year-old commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces emerged as the consensus candidate in a polarised parliament after seven years at the helm of the military.

Lebanon's army is seen as a rare source of national unity in a deeply divided country and one of the few institutions holding it together amid political and economic collapse. It is widely respected locally and abroad.

The military has been entrusted with the mammoth task of ensuring stability in southern Lebanon following a November ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah that ended 13 months of war. The truce relies on the Lebanese army's posting south of the Litani River near the Israeli border and Hezbollah's withdrawal from the area.

“Mr Aoun is essential for stability in the country. He held the army together during the war despite the economic crisis, and he has proven that he is capable,” said Marc Daou, an independent MP who voted for Gen Aoun.

Gen Aoun joined the army in 1983 and steadily climbed the ranks until his promotion to Brig Gen in 2013. After his appointment as army chief in 2017, he earned widespread recognition for leading a successful campaign against ISIS and Al Nusra Front to expel their fighters from eastern Lebanon.

He was also praised by some for his handling of a 2019 protests in Lebanon during which hundreds of thousands took to the streets demanding an end to corruption. “If it weren’t for Mr Aoun’s decision not to repress the protests, the Lebanese people would not have been able to revolt,” said Mr Daou, who took part in the movement.

Respected

Gen Aoun is well respected in military and diplomatic circles. He has generally maintained good relations across Lebanon's political spectrum, including with Hezbollah, although some within the group have criticised him for his ties to the US. The US is the primary financial supporter of the Lebanese army, and Gen Aoun has received extensive military training there.

Gen Aoun also enjoys the backing of other countries, including the so-called Quintet Committee, a group including France, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the US, which came together to help resolve the Lebanese presidential deadlock.

“We support a consensus candidate, and we have no objection with Mr Aoun, as his profile fits the broad outlines of the Doha communique, and he is able to lift the country out of its crises,” a western diplomatic source told The National.

Gen Aoun holds a degree in political science, with a specialisation in international affairs, as well as a degree in military sciences. He is fluent in Arabic, French and English. He is Christian, is married and has two children.

Under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, the presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, the prime minister's position for a Sunni Muslim, and the parliamentary speaker's role for a Shiite Muslim.

Gen Aoun is not related to former Lebanese president Michel Aoun. He is the fourth army chief to be president.