Lebanon's parliament chose the head of the country's armed forces, Joseph Aoun, to be its next president, a post that's been vacant since October 2022.

Lebanese lawmakers elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Jan. 9, ending a more than two-year vacancy and marking a step towards lifting the war-battered country out of financial meltdown.

A ruthless warlord during the civil war, his nomination for president would be deeply divisive. Indeed, he was one of General Aoun’s earliest supporters. Trying to veto a candidate who had little chance of winning anyway says much about Hizbullah’s diminished power.