Elected president on Thursday, after a vacancy of more than two years, Joseph Aoun is the fifth head of state to have held the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces, following the terms of Fouad Shehab (1958-1964), Emile Lahoud (1998-2007), Michel Sleiman (2008-2014) and Michel Aoun (2016-2022). Unlike the others, Michel Aoun experienced a long political interval between his two roles.

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Joseph Aoun, Lebanon’s new president: A flawless military record, a political enigma

Fouad Shehab, the precursor

Following Camille Shamoun and elected after an insurrection and battles, Fouad Shehab became the first president from the military command, in 1958, thanks to a compromise between Washington and Cairo and supported by a coalition of Lebanese political forces. The former military figure remained in power for six years and worked to develop peripheral regions and modernize the state: a new way of conducting politics, which became known in subsequent years as the "Shehabist Political Line."

Emile Lahoud, a president for Assad's Syria

Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces from 1989 to 1998 before being elected president the same year, Emile Lahoud succeeded Elias Hrawi and remained in office until 2007. His term was marked by his opposition to Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, who was assassinated on Feb. 14, 2005, and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon on April 26 of the same year.

Michel Sleiman, a presidency facing the rise of the 'axis of resistance'

While still heading the Lebanese army, Michel Sleiman was elected in May 2008 as part of an agreement aimed at rebalancing the local political scene. He remained in office for six years. His term was marked by the toppling of Saad Hariri's government and the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, which created a split between supporters and opponents of the Assad regime.

Michel Aoun, Hezbollah's ally

Michel Aoun was the commander of the Lebanese army from 1984 to 1990, before spending fifteen years in exile in France. He returned to Lebanon in April 2005 following the withdrawal of Syrian troops. That same year, he launched his political party, the Free Patriotic Movement, and signed the Mar Mikhael Agreement in 2006 with Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's then-leader, cementing the alliance between the two parties. He came to power in October 2016 after a two-year presidential vacancy. During his presidency, which ended in 2022, Lebanon witnessed the 2019 revolution, economic and financial collapse, and the Beirut port explosion on Aug. 4, 2020.