BEIRUT: Lebanese lawmakers elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday (Jan 9), ending a more than two-year vacancy in a step towards lifting the war-battered country out of financial crisis.

Lebanon’s parliament chose the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.

The new president, Joseph Aoun, is a favorite of America, France, and Saudi Arabia. He even gets a cautious endorsement from Israel amid skepticism

Lebanon's newly elected president, Joseph Aoun, said Thursday that "a new phase" has started for the war-ravaged country and pledged to rebuild the state, adopt a policy of "positive neutrality" and fight corruption.

Lebanon lawmakers elected army commander Joseph Aoun as the country’s first president in more than two years, picking a U.S.-backed candidate in a sign of Iran’s waning influence in the region.

A devastating economic crisis, a political power vacuum, massive corruption and most recently the war between Hezbollah and Israel: For a long time, things were not looking good for Lebanon. But, after two years without a president,

The election of army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun garnered rare consensus among the Lebanese, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia in the first presidential election for Lebanon following the fall of the Assad regime.

General Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander who was elected president on Thursday, kept his military on the sidelines of a recent war between Israel and armed group Hezbollah, ordering it to prioritise civil peace even as troops were killed.

Following 13 attempts to elect a president, Lebanon’s parliament has sworn in army commander Joseph Aoun as the head of state. Mr. Aoun is the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

After years of gridlock, Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun, the chief military commander, as president. His win could unlock money for postwar reconstruction.

General Joseph Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States, which funds, trains, and arms the Lebanese military and helped broker a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in November.