It is unclear whether the decision to renew Aoun’s (R) term will impact his chances as Lebanon’s next president [Fadel Itani/AFP/Getty]
Lebanon’s parliament Thursday renewed the term of army chief Joseph Aoun, who is seen as a potential presidential candidate in next year’s vote.
The parliament has seldom met since Israel’s war with Hezbollah began 14 months ago, and has not convened to try to elect a president since June 2023, leaving the country in a political gridlock.
Thursday’s session is the first since a US-brokered ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday, which has left the Lebanese military, and UN peacekeepers, responsible for ensuring Hezbollah militants leave the country’s south and its facilities dismantled.
The Lebanese army is expected to receive international aid to help deploy troops in the south to exert full state control there.
General Joseph Aoun is seen as a likely presidential candidate due to his close relationship with the international community and his hold on an institution that is seen as a rare point of unity in the country mired by years of political and sectarian tensions. Lebanon has been without a president since 31 October, 2022.
It is unclear whether the decision to renew Aoun’s term will impact his chances as Lebanon’s next president.
Hezbollah and some of its key allies and their legislators have been skeptical of a Aoun presidency due to his close relationship with Washington.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who spearheaded negotiations with the United States to end the war, also called for parliament to convene on 9 January, 2025 to elect a president, the first attempt in almost 19 months.
Berri, in an address Wednesday, urged political parties to pick a president that will bring Lebanon’s rival groups together, in a bid to keep the war-torn and financially battered country from further deteriorating amid fears of internal political tensions between Hezbollah and its political opponents following the war.
The militant group’s opponents, who believe Hezbollah should be completely disarmed, are furious that it made the unilateral decision to go to war with Israel in solidarity with its ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
French special envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, tasked by French President Emmanuel Macron with helping Lebanon break its political deadlock, observed Thursday’s session before meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri and later caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Le Drian, France’s former Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, arrived in Beirut Wednesday night. His country will be in the multi-national committee that will monitor the ceasefire, led by the US. Israel had been opposed to France joining the committee.
The Lebanese prime minister’s office said Thursday that Mikati spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron, urging him to pressure Israel to respect the ceasefire after the Israeli army violated the deal on Thursday, carrying out an airstrike near Sidon and shelling border villages.
