The election of Joseph Aoun the result of coordination between the Biden and Trump administrations

In addition to the synergy between Washington, Riyadh, Paris and Doha, Thursday’s election of Joseph Aoun as President of the Lebanese Republic was made possible, in particular, thanks to collaboration between the Biden administration and the president-elect’s team Donald Trump, Axios journalist Barak David reported on Thursday. The collaborators of the outgoing president and those of Mr. Trump, who is due to take office on January 20, have thus “coordinated their positions”, while discussions with the local actors in the Middle East in order to elect Joseph Aoun were made on behalf of the Biden and Trump administrations.

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According to Barak David, these efforts to elect the commander-in-chief of the Lebanese army culminated with the visit of the American envoy Amos Hochstein, who came to Beirut on Monday, January 6, officially to ensure the proper implementation of the agreement. ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, concluded on November 27, 2024.

Preventing a “comeback” of Hezbollah

Before his trip to Lebanon, Mr. Hochstein met Jake Sullivan and Mike Waltz, respectively national security advisers to MM. Biden and Trump. He was also in contact with Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, to review their strategies.

According to the source informed of the file, cited by Barak David, Mr. Waltz and Joe Biden’s team “agreed on the importance of preventing Hezbollah from taking advantage of the presidential electoral process”, decided for January 9 by Speaker of the House Nabih Berry the day after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, “to make a strong comeback”.

Discussions were also held throughout with Saudi Arabia, which played a key role. According to a US official, “it was essentially a joint effort between Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) and the Biden administration” to elect Joseph Aoun. Before landing in Beirut, Amos Hochstein went to Riyadh to meet the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal Ben Farhane, and his envoy, Prince Yazid Ben Farhane. Shortly before leaving the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, Joe Biden’s emissary called Prince Yazid to ask him to go to Lebanon and continue to put pressure on Lebanese deputies, reports Barak David.

“Not a threat, but…”

Mr. Hochstein held numerous meetings during his two-day visit to Lebanon, in order to convince deputies to vote for Joseph Aoun. He met “for hours” with the President of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berry, as well as the outgoing Prime Minister Nagib Mikati, according to the American official quoted by Barak David, who specifies that “at one point, Joseph Aoun joins the discussions.

According to this source, the most important meeting took place with Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces (FL). Mr. Hochstein met the Christian leader in his stronghold of Meerab “until after midnight” to convince him to vote for Joseph Aoun, and ask his party to do the same.

During a breakfast in Beirut on Tuesday morning, two days before the presidential election, Mr. Hochstein also met several dozen Lebanese deputies, several of whom were still undecided, says Barak David. This meeting took place at the home of Fouad Makhzoumi. One of them reportedly said, “Who gives you the right to decide who will be the president of Lebanon?” “.

Joe Biden’s emissary responded, according to two American officials, that the Lebanese deputies were free to make their choice but that it was “(his) right to decide how much time the United States will devote to Lebanon and where it will want to invest their money. He then reportedly added that it was not a threat, but that the Trump and Biden administrations considered the election of Joseph Aoun to be beneficial for Lebanon.

According to Barak David, citing the same two American officials, the Biden administration sees the following qualities in Joseph Aoun: a man of confidence, pro-Western, not supporting Hezbollah and enjoying the trust of the majority of Lebanese people.

Israel would like to remain in “three strategic positions” in South Lebanon

According to Barak David, the Biden administration is also confident about the complete cessation of hostilities at the end of the ceasefire period scheduled for January 27, the deployment of the Lebanese army in South Lebanon, as well as the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the area south of the Litani, as provided for in the agreement signed between Lebanon and Israel.

In this context, Mr. Hochstein chaired a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee in Naqoura on Monday, while the Lebanese army gradually deployed in the village, in place of the Israeli army, withdrawing its forces of the locality and, in the process, of the rest of the western sector of the border zone. “The Lebanese army has shown that it is capable of keeping its commitments,” an American official is said to have welcomed.

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However, Israeli officials recently reportedly stated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and the leadership of the Israeli army do not wish to completely withdraw their forces from South Lebanon, but would like to keep them in ” three key strategic positions”, according to information from the Israeli journalist from Axios, who does not give further details.

These Israeli officials hope that the Trump administration will endorse this, while that of Joe Biden strongly opposes it. “The Israelis will begin to understand that they must comply with the agreement. There is absolutely no question of them remaining in Lebanon,” an American official reportedly said. According to him, the election of Joseph Aoun would increase pressure for a complete Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon within the allotted time frame.