Mideast: Meet Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s New Presdient
Anadolu
On January 9th, 2025, the Lebanese parliament elected a new president for the first time since 2022. Joseph Aoun, a former general of the Lebanese armed forces, was elected to the position amid continuing economic and political crises, and a region at war.
Lebanon’s democracy is known as consociational or confessional because it shares power between religious majorities. The president is always a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shia Muslim. These standards were established by the informal, yet lasting, 1947 “National Pact.” Born from the independence movement, the National Pact bound together Lebanese religious majorities to form a government. The pact, while widely criticized and technically not binding, has lasted and been followed throughout the decades and during civil wars.
In 2019, a financial crisis struck Lebanon. A combination of factors caused the Lebanese liquidity crisis. The Lebanese Lira has been pegged to the US Dollar at a rate of 1,507 Lira to one dollar since 1997. As the 2010s drew to a close, the Lebanese government, weakened and corrupt, began to panic about the national debt and made risky financial moves to prevent immediate collapse. These moves enriched private banks greatly, but devastated Lebanese access to foreign currency, effectively corroding its relationship with the Dollar. By 2020, the Pandemic had begun and Trump’s sanctions against the Syrian government and Lebanese nationals associated with Hezbollah had impacted the entire population of the Levant.
Black Market Cost of USD in Thousands of Lebanese Lira
In 2019, the Lira remained roughly 1,500 to the Dollar; by spring of 2021, the black market exchange rate for a Dollar was 15,000 Lira. Inflation spun out of control. The government printed Lira furiously while the economy collapsed.
Protests erupted around the country against austere taxation measures of everyday goods. When a warehouse containing explosive material erupted in a fireball killing over 250 people in 2020, a slew of government resignations followed. People demanded answers about who was responsible for regulating their safety. The Lebanese state was too weak.
Another factor weakening the Lebanese government was and is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a militant group and political party in Lebanon widely considered a terrorist organization. They are financially supported by Iran and are, alongside Hamas, part of the Axis of Resistance. Hezbollah began in the early 80s as a Shia group to fight against the Israeli invasion of Southern Lebanon both militarily and politically. They have been the largest political force in Lebanon and the primary representative for Shiite interests in the diverse nation. As Hezbollah’s power increased, so did international pressure to dismantle them.
Hezbollah joined Hamas in the war against Israel in 2023 and their involvement ended with a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah in 2024. By the time they reached an agreement, Israel had murdered the entire leadership of the organization and neutered their communications and funding networks. Their weakened status is one reason Lebanon was able to elect a president.
In the President’s first remarks, he declared a military monopoly on the use of force in Lebanon, indirectly warning Hezbollah that he was not going to allow militarized political parties. Joseph Aoun is a military leader and is set on restoring the national authority and strength of the Lebanese Armed Forces. He was trained in America and spent years fighting ISIS and HTS terror cells along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Joseph Aoun is widely respected as an army leader and man of faith, however, it was not a complete consensus that put him in the top seat. Critics point out that army generals are prevented from being elevated to President, a constitutional law that has been suspended many times before. Many in Lebanon are skeptical of his popularity in powerful Arab-gulf states and the West. Lebanon, due to its economic crisis, is heavily dependent on foreign aid, which makes many nationalists wary of the influence of these donor states. Because Aoun is popular among the US foreign policy establishment and the Saudi state, some accuse him of being a Trojan horse for American influence.
For his first move in office, President Aoun nominated Nawaf Salam, who was then promptly elected, to the office of Prime Minister. This will be the first time Salam has held a political office in Lebanon, but he is highly qualified. He currently leads the International Court of Justice and is a legal scholar respected throughout the world’s academic institutions. The team is one of technocratic institutionalists more interested in stability and governance than politics. This bodes well for Lebanon’s future.
French President Macron visited Beirut in January and said “In the middle of winter, spring has sprung,” referring to Aoun and Salam’s administration. Aoun has had a busy schedule as the new president and just returned to Lebanon from his visit to Egypt for an extraordinary conference of Arab nations on the urgent Palestinian crisis. He supported the Egyptian plan and expressed the urgent need for follow-through from the international community.
Aoun’s priorities in his first months in office have been those of national sovereignty. Firstly, negotiating the complete withdrawal of Israeli presence from southern Lebanon. Secondly, the disarming of Hezbollah. His further priorities include the economic rebuilding of the Lebanese Lira and investments in the infrastructure of his broken country.
Politics will be his enemy and time will be his judge. Nevertheless, in his early days, he carries the optimism of millions. He represents statecraft, secularism, and stability in a region divided by religion and violent non-state actors.
