Lebanon’s army chief favored to be president after Hezbollah-backed candidate withdraws

By Explorer -

 The candidate backed by Hezbollah and Amal Movement withdrew from Lebanon’s presidential race late Wednesday and announced his support for the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces.

Sleiman Frangieh, a politician from North Lebanon who had close ties to Syria’s now-deposed al-Assad regime, announced his eleventh-hour decision in a post on X. Frangieh failed to garner the necessary votes in previous electoral sessions.

For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

“In light of the way things have turned out, I announce the withdrawal of my candidacy, which was never an obstacle to the election process,” he said.
Frangieh thanked those who backed him without directly mentioning Hezbollah or Amal and threw his support behind the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun.

“In line with what I had previously announced, I will support Gen. Joseph Aoun, who possesses the qualifications [for the position of the president],” Frangieh said.

Al Arabiya English reported on Tuesday that Aoun and Jihad Azour, a current IMF official and former Lebanese minister, were frontrunners. Aoun is preferred in Washington and has the support of most of the international community, but a constitutional issue was an obstacle he needed to overcome in the 128-member Parliament. He needs 86 votes because of his position as a senior public servant instead of 65 for others. As of Wednesday night, Aoun’s path appeared clear, with more MPs publicly endorsing him.

Sleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada movement, gestures as he speaks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, October 30, 2021. (Reuters)
Sleiman Frangieh, leader of the Marada movement, gestures as he speaks after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, October 30, 2021. (Reuters)

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said for the first time since the presidential vaccum, “I feel happy because, God willing, tomorrow we will have a new president of the Republic.”

The country has been without a president since October 2022. Since then, a devastating war between Iran and groups it backs and Israel has reshaped the region. This included the assassination of Hezbollah’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, who was seen as Iran’s point man for its so-called axis of resistance. Bashar al-Assad was also forced to flee Syria after opposition groups toppled his regime at the end of 2024, putting an end to the 61-year Baath Party rule in the country.

Source: Lebanon’s army chief favored to be president after Hezbollah-backed candidate withdraws

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Islam Has Massacred Over 669+ Million Non-Muslims Since 622AD

By Explorer -
Image
In fact, no ideology has been as genocidal as Islam… Islam has killed more than 5 times the number of people killed by communism. In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or  the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time. With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be  over 669 million murders. Islam: The Religion of Genocide Perspective:   Think the Spanish inquisition was bad? More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition* combined. The Spanish inquisition ( Tri...
Read more

Chinese spying on Dutch industries 'intensifying': Dutch defence minister

By Explorer -
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Chinese efforts to spy on the Dutch are intensifying, with the focus on semiconductors, Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said on Saturday. "The semiconductor industry, which we are technologically leading, or technology advanced, of course, to get that intellectual property - that's interesting to China," Brekelmans said in an interview on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting in Singapore. The Dutch military intelligence agency said in its annual report in April last year that Chinese spies have targeted the Dutch semiconductor, aerospace and maritime industries to try to strengthen China's armed forces When asked if the spying had stopped, Brekelmans said: "It's continuing. In our newest intelligence reports, our intelligence agency said that the biggest cyber threat is coming from China, and that we do see most cyber activity when it comes to us being as from China. That was the case last year, but that's...
Read more

Five US troops killed in Afghan roadside blast: officials

By terrorism watch -
Kabul: Five members of the US-led international military coalition were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the latest deadly attack against foreign troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive this week. The renewed violence came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that his government has been receiving funds from CIA for more than a decade as part of regular monthly assistance from the US government. Karzai told reporters at a news conference that the CIA's station chief in Kabul has assured him that regular funding the US intelligence agency gives his government will not be cut off. Karzai had earlier confirmed that his government had received such payments following a story published in The New York Times that said the CIA had given the Afghan National Security Council tens of millions of dollars in monthly payments delivered in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags. "The help and assistance f...
Read more