Jan 15, 2025
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in his army uniform. [Arlington National Cemetery/Creative Commons]
Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun has been elected president by the Lebanese Parliament after two rounds of voting on Jan. 9. The country has had no president since October 2022.
Aoun was backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, according to several reports.
The new government’s prime minister will be the International Court of Justice’s chief judge Nawaf Salam, being nominated by Aoun on Jan. 14.
The ICJ, otherwise known as the World Court, is the United Nations’ governing judicial body which mediates between two countries’ disputes regarding International Law.
Lebanon suffers from a yearslong financial crisis and is recovering from a 14-month long conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which ended with a US-brokered ceasefire agreement on November 27, implemented by the Lebanese military.
The agreement said that Israeli forces would gradually withdraw areas it currently occupies in southern Lebanon, and that Hezbollah would retreat north of the Litani River.
Aoun vowed in his acceptance speech that “The Lebanese state – I repeat the Lebanese state – will get rid of the Israeli occupation.”
Salam in his first speech as head of state promised to adhere to the ceasefire agreement and would work to give Lebanon a “modern economy.”
The chief judge turned prime minister rose to prominence during the ICJ South Africa v. Israel genocide case in 2024, which Salam presided over.