Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun as head of state on Thursday, filling the leadership vacancy with a US-backed general and showing the diminished influence of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war. to Israel.
The result reflected shifts in the balance of power in Lebanon and the Middle East in general, with Shia Muslim Hezbollah badly pumped from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad. fell in December.
It also marked a resurgence of Saudi influence in a country where Riyadh's role had long been overshadowed by Iran and Hezbollah.
The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's (no relation) term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate capable of votes to enough to win in the 128. – seat of parliament.
Aoun fell short of the required 86 votes in a first-round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, according to parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, after Hezbollah lawmakers and his Shia friend, the Amal Movement to support him.
Momentum behind Aoun picked up on Wednesday when Hezbollah's long-favored candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, withdrew and announced support for the army chief, and as French and Saudi proxies closed in on Beirut, sending persuasion chosen during meetings with politicians, said three Lebanese political sources.
A source close to the Saudi royal court said French, Saudi, and US agents had told Berri, who was close to Hezbollah, that international financial support – including from Saudi Arabia – was dependent on Aoun's election. .
“There is a very clear message from the international community that they are ready to support Lebanon, but a president, a government is needed,” Michel Mouawad, an anti-Hezbollah Christian lawmaker who voted for Aoun, told Reuters before the vote.
“We received a message of support from Saudi,” he said.
There is no head of state from 2022
The election of Joseph Aoun is the first step towards reviving government institutions in a country that has not had a head of state or an all-powerful cabinet since Michel Aoun left office.
Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a devastating financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of international aid to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates has cost the country US$8.5 billion a country
People in Lebanon are burying their dead and trying to rebuild their lives as a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah holds, as CBC News hears divided opinions on what the fate of the weak militant group.
His system of government requires the new president to call consultations with lawmakers to name a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be extended as factions trading across ministerial portfolios.
Aoun has played a key role in promoting a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel that was negotiated by Washington and Paris in November. The terms call for the Lebanese army to deploy to southern Lebanon while Israeli and Hezbollah forces withdraw.
Aoun, 60, has been head of the US-backed Lebanese army since 2017. Watched, US aid continued to flow to the army, part of a long-standing US policy of supporting to provide state institutions to limit Hezbollah's influence.
French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said that a new government will carry out the reforms necessary for the economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty of Lebanon, and said that France wants leaders political and Lebanese authorities to work towards these goals.
