Abandoning his traditional fatigues, Joseph Aoun made his solemn entry in a suit and tie on Thursday, January 9, into the Baabda presidential palace, located on the heights of Beirut. His wife and his relatives were waiting for him on the steps. He had just been very widely elected, obtaining in the second round, the votes of 99 of the 128 deputies, and had taken the oath before Parliament. Joseph Aoun, who will turn 61 on January 10, takes office in a period of great uncertainty, marked by a fragile truce following Israel’s war in Lebanon to weaken Hezbollah during the fall of 2024, and the regional upheavals – overthrow of the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria, Iran-United States conflict – from which Beirut cannot escape.
The one who was until then head of the army has never been a declared candidate for the post of president, vacant since the fall of 2022, when the mandate of his predecessor, Michel Aoun, ended (with whom he did not no relation). But, from that time on, and despite the lack of desire he showed to enter the Lebanese political swamp, his name circulated in the media and the chancelleries, as that of a potential president, although the Constitution stipulates that a senior civil servant cannot be elected while in office.
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