Caretaker Minister of Defense Maurice Sleem ratified the results of the military academy entrance exams on Tuesday.
This decision affects 200 candidates now admitted as officer cadets in the army and the general directorates of the Internal Security Forces, General Security, State Security and Customs.
Additionally, Sleem signed a draft decree to appoint 176 officers to army positions following their success in the admission exam. This draft decree has been referred to the Council of Ministers.
It is worth noting that the file of the Military Academy students dates back to August 2023. At that time, their fate was uncertain, as Sleem had previously refused to ratify the exam results, claiming that the criteria for selecting recruits had not been met.
Out of the 800 candidates who took the admission exam, 118 were selected by the army command. However, since the Military Academy initially sought to recruit 173 new officers, Sleem refrained from countersigning the results.
He demanded new tests to facilitate the enlistment of 55 additional officers to reach the required total of 173.
The reason for this refusal was Sleem’s intention, as an ally of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), to challenge the army’s Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Aoun, with whom he has a contentious relationship.
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