Election of Army Commander Joseph Aoun as President of Lebanon

The Lebanese Army Commander, Joseph Aoun, was elected as the country's president during a session held by the Lebanese Parliament on Thursday, January 9, 2025, ending a more than two-year presidential vacancy that deepened successive crises in the country.

The election of the new president comes after a devastating war that weakened a key player, Hezbollah, and following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in neighboring Syria.

Since the end of former President Michel Aoun's term in October 2022, the Lebanese Parliament failed in 12 sessions to elect a president, amid Hezbollah's insistence, as the most prominent political and military force at the time, on trying to impose its candidate, Suleiman Frangieh.

The election of a president after the successive crises that Lebanon has experienced since 2019 indicates the beginning of a somewhat stable phase.

Observers and analysts believe that the role required of the army in the next phase to implement a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was a decisive factor in tipping the balance in favor of Joseph Aoun.