US and France worked hard on Joseph Aoun’s election as Lebanese president – Shahan Kandaharian

After two rounds of voting, the Lebanese parliament elected the commander of the armed forces, General Joseph Aoun, as the president of Lebanon. Alpha News spoke to Shahan Kandaharian, editor-in-chief of Aztag Daily, on this topic.

“The army commander has long been a candidate for the presidency, as we know that the post has been vacant for two years now. I believe the elections of the president, prime minister, and government are also conditioned by the circumstances of the war. This is not the first time that a high-ranking military official has been elected president of the country. There have been similar cases before. It should also be noted that the US, Saudi Arabia, and France worked very actively on the election of Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun as president. He is not a relative of former President Michel Aoun; it is just a coincidence, they have the same last name,” Kandaharian said.

According to him, in the fateful moments, the Lebanese army fully fulfilled its functions.

“The army is a structure that, unlike other state institutions, has preserved its integrity. It is worth noting that the Lebanese army did not split up at the fateful moments and fully fulfilled its functions. We should also note that the army has another very important role to play. It was agreed that in exchange for the withdrawal of Hezbollah forces, the Lebanese army would be deployed along the entire Israeli border. It turns out that the army was tasked with guarding all Lebanese borders, both water and land,” Kandaharian concluded.