Who is Joseph Aoun, the new president of Lebanon?

Lebanese Army Commander Joseph Aoun has been elected as the new President of Lebanon. The 61-year-old general becomes the 14th President of Lebanon, ending a presidential vacancy of over two years following the departure of his predecessor, Michel Aoun (no relation to the new president).

Joseph Aoun's appointment breaks a long-standing political deadlock. Previously, the Lebanese parliament had convened 12 times to vote for a president, but failed to elect one. Aoun secured broad political support in parliament, ultimately winning 99 out of 128 seats in the second round of voting.

Joseph Aoun was born in 1964 in Sin el Fil, a northern suburb of Beirut. He rose to prominence after being promoted to Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces in 2017. Like the President of the Republic, this position must be held by a Maronite Christian, to which Aoun belongs. His official biography states that he enlisted in 1983 during the Lebanese Civil War and received various training both domestically and abroad, including participation in a US counter-terrorism program. He has also been awarded the Lebanese War Medal three times, as well as numerous other medals and honors.

Shortly after taking command of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) in August 2017, Aoun used his counter-terrorism training to launch an operation targeting ISIS militants entrenched in the mountains between Syria and Lebanon, particularly on the outskirts of Christian villages such as Ras Baalbek and al-Qaa in the northeast of the Beqaa Valley. The success of this operation enhanced Aoun's reputation. Furthermore, his years of leadership within the LAF have allowed him to establish close ties with various regional and international actors, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which provided strong support for his presidential bid.

Aoun's tenure as Commander of the Lebanese Army coincided with a period of immense hardship for the country. A protracted economic crisis has plunged millions of Lebanese people into poverty, with many soldiers forced to take on second jobs to make ends meet. The economic crisis is seen as emblematic of Lebanon’s wider governance crisis. The sectarian political system has entrenched an aging political elite associated with corruption and political mismanagement. The Beirut explosion in August 2020, which killed more than 220 people, further cemented the impression that the country’s rulers had utterly failed the Lebanese people. Following the departure of President Michel Aoun in October 2022, the Lebanese parliament, despite numerous sessions to vote, failed to agree on a successor, leaving the Lebanese state paralyzed at a time when action was needed to address the country’s economic challenges.

The Lebanese army under Aoun’s command is also widely regarded as weaker than the Shia organization Hezbollah, further undermining the effectiveness of the Lebanese state. To make matters worse, Israel’s war on Gaza rapidly spilled over into Lebanon, with Hezbollah engaging in exchanges of fire with Israel from October 8, 2023, eventually leading to a two-month devastating bombing campaign and ground invasion by Israel, resulting in over 4,000 deaths, before a ceasefire was agreed on November 27 last year.

Despite the death and destruction, the resolution of the war did open a path to finally electing a president, with international and domestic pressure mounting for a solution and a signal that Lebanon would begin to rebuild. Aoun only began to be seriously considered as a presidential candidate in 2023, and he seized the opportunity. He kept the Lebanese army out of the war with Israel, despite the deaths of over 40 Lebanese soldiers during the period. He is also seen as a key figure in ensuring Lebanon adheres to the ceasefire agreement, which stipulates that Hezbollah must withdraw from south of the Litani River and be replaced by the Lebanese army to ensure Israel withdraws to the UN-demarcated border between Lebanon and Israel.

Notably, Israel has welcomed Aoun’s appointment. In addition to external and domestic support for Aoun, his political indefinability may be one of the reasons for his successful election. Little is known about his political views, and he rarely gives interviews, although he did criticize politicians in 2021 for causing Lebanon’s financial crisis, saying that soldiers were going hungry. Aoun has not clearly stated his position on Hezbollah’s arsenal, but in his inaugural address he pledged to “affirm the state’s monopoly on the right to bear arms.” What steps he will take to enforce this pledge remains to be seen, and it is unlikely that Hezbollah will agree to any disarmament demands. The new president has also promised to rebuild areas hit by Israeli attacks, including the south and the Dahiyeh suburbs of Beirut.

His emphasis on national unity comes at a rare moment of consensus; Aoun’s appointment ends a painful period of parliamentary division. But more will need to be done to demonstrate to the Lebanese people that the country has now truly turned a new page and that its political leadership is capable of genuinely improving the lives of millions of Lebanese people, something it has failed to do for so many years.