Watershed moment for the Middle East after Lebanon elects new president - with a Saudi push
CNNCNN — It was a last-minute push by Saudi Arabia that decided Lebanon’s fate on Thursday. Why had Saudi Arabia expended so much diplomatic capital to deliver a president, ending nearly eight years of disengagement from Lebanon that it dismissed as “lost” to Iranian domination via Hezbollah? “We support international cooperation… but no one should interfere with our sovereignty.” Aoun’s predecessor is the Hezbollah-backed former President Michel Aoun. In his remarks to reporters after Aoun’s election, Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc leader Mohammad Raad said they voted for him to promote “national understanding.” They withheld their vote in the first round, he added ambiguously, because they “wanted to send a message… that we are protectors of sovereignty.” Strategic ambiguity may be the best card it holds at this pivotal moment. Domestically, Lebanon’s newly minted president must oversee this process while preventing the outbreak of civil strife, something he hinted at in his acceptance speech when he promised to stop the country’s factions from trying “to break each other’s heads.” A woman looks for her belongings in the debris of a destroyed building in the city of Tyre, after a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed group Hezbollah took effect in late November 2024.
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Watershed moment for the Middle East after Lebanon elects new president - with a Saudi push
CNNLebanon’s parliament trying again to pick a president, after 12 failed attempts over 2 years
Associated PressWill Lebanon finally elect a president after a 2-year vacuum?
Associated Press
Iran urges Lebanese sides to reach agreement over president
Associated Press
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Associated Press
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Associated Press
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