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Lebanon’s new President pledges to retake “Israeli-occupied” land
Lebanon yesterday elected a new president, who is reported to be closely allied with Hezbollah. He immediately vowed to regain land which he alleged is occupied by Israel.
81-year-old Michel Aoun was elected by 83 of the 127 lawmakers in Lebanon’s parliament. The election ends a 29-month deadlock when Lebanon’s parliament was unable to agree on a president. Under long-standing agreements, Lebanon’s President must be a Maronite Christian, its Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and Parliament’s speaker a Shi’ite Muslim.
Aoun agreed a formal alliance between his Christian-based Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah in 2006. Since then, he has resolutely supported the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group. Aoun supports the continuing military alliance between Hezbollah, Iran and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah is defined as an illegal terror organisation by the US whilst its military wing is a banned terrorist organisation in UK and EU law.
The Guardian says that Aoun’s victory “politically legitimises Hezbollah,” while the Telegraph says that it “represents a success for Hezbollah and its allies in Iran and Syria”.
Addressing legislators yesterday, Aoun said proudly that Lebanon “still hasn’t been touched by the flames surrounding it in the region”. He also pledged to “release what is left of our lands from the Israeli occupation”. The UN verified an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 but Hezbollah claims land it calls the Sheba Farms, located on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights and referred to as Lebanese territory.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said yesterday that Washington is “not blind” to Aoun’s endorsement by Hezbollah, but that “we’re going to judge the new president on the decisions he makes going forward and the actions he takes”.
Aoun is expected to appoint Saad Hariri, the most prominent Sunni politician in Lebanon, as the new Prime Minister. Hariri heads the March 14 coalition, which is considered to be allied with Saudi Arabia and strongly opposed to influence from Hezbollah and more widely from Syria and Iran. However, Hariri failed to gain support for his own presidential candidate, Suleiman Franjieh.