Joseph Aoun: Who is the new president of Lebanon – The prestige victory for Biden and the messages to Israel

After 2 years, Lebanon has a caller president since yesterday, a improvement that translates some arsenic a last triumph for Biden’s diplomacy earlier helium leaves the White House and arsenic a determination that gives guarantees of stableness to some the state and Israel

Lebanon, aft 2 years arsenic a runaway ship, has a “captain” astatine the helm again since yesterday… Josef Aoun, though helium did not marque it from the archetypal vote, becomes the caput of a state that, isolated from Hezbollah, is facing a heavy economical and societal crisis.

Who is Joseph Aoun?

Joseph Aoun has been a long-time adjacent state and spouse of the US and was the caput of the country’s National Army. Aoun has besides been a longtime professional of Hezbollah and its methods, and has argued connected respective occasions that Lebanon’s nationalist service cannot perchance spouse with the Shiite group’s subject arm.

The obstacles are US support, the Saudis, and Paris

The process of electing Aun was thing but simple. To elite a president successful Lebanon, the country’s parliament required 86 votes, a fig the caller president did not get successful the archetypal circular of voting. The debates that followed the archetypal ballot gave him the indispensable number, with reports of important guarantees fixed – indirectly by some the US and Paris. To these guarantees should beryllium added the power of Saudi Arabia which since the opening of 2020 has emerged arsenic the caller cardinal diplomatic powerfulness successful the region. The pivotal determination seems to person been made by France whose power successful Lebanon has been implicit time. According to sources from Lebanon and the Iliac Palace, determination appears to person been a catalytic telephone telephone from the “hexagon” to Beirut which shifted the equilibrium successful Aoun’s favor.

Messages to the West and Israel and a prestige triumph for Biden

Lebanon’s caller president is positioned connected the word “beneficial neutrality”. The Aoun fixed does not privation immoderate reorganization for Hezbollah and seems to person made the indispensable promises to the US and France that helium volition bash what is needed to get the state backmost to presumption some successful the portion and successful the West.

The cardinal focus for Aun is expected to beryllium rebuilding the system and rebuilding the economy, and some Washington and Paris look to person pledged to enactment these efforts. On the flip side, the instrumentality aft much than 2 years to a signifier of “normalcy” is being interpreted – and the information is not arbitrarily – arsenic a past prestige triumph for US diplomacy and personally for Joe Biden. The caller time for Lebanon with this President brings overmuch person to a last ceasefire statement with Israel which with 15 days near for the expiration of the interim pact contiguous has overmuch little crushed and arguments to importune connected war… Already the archetypal signals from Tel Aviv are affirmative with sources close to Benjamin Netanyahu talking astir a “very affirmative step”. Joe Biden besides knows that by concluding this peculiar “pending issue” successful Lebanon successful the astir “painless” mode for each sides, helium volition not person immoderate objections oregon subversion decrees from the adjacent Donald Trump Administration.