Joseph Aoun, 59, has been commander in chief of the Lebanese Armed Forces since March 8, 2017. He joined the army in 1983.
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While Lebanon is falling apart, the Lebanese army and its commander in chief, Gen. Joseph Aoun, are in the spotlight. The Lebanese state no longer exists. It has been shattered by endless crises and wars, in addition to corruption and favoritism. In the midst of chaos, the well-respected and popular Lebanese army is the last and most important institution that remains standing.
When Gen. Joseph Aoun (no family ties to former President Michel Aoun) was first appointed head of the army on March 8, 2017, he never expected to deal with Daesh attacks on Lebanon, a total economic collapse, a revolution, the third most powerful conventional explosion in the history of mankind on the port of Beirut, and a political stalemate unlike any other in the world. Aoun, 59, is a man of integrity and honesty (a rare find in Lebanon). He has no personal fortune or lavish properties, nor corruption cases. He is a simple man who leads a humble life and collects knives and daggers as souvenirs from military trainings.
Three brigades make up the special operations forces. These elite units have over 5,000 highly trained soldiers.
The Lebanese army has 77,000 soldiers. It is the only institution that enjoys the support of the population.
The Army’s budget has dropped from $1.8 billion in 2018 to less than $100 million today.
The Army Command Center is located in Yarze, east of Beirut.
His missions were successful. In a tweet on August 18, 2017, he announced Daesh’s defeat at the hands of more than 5,000 of his soldiers. During the October 2019 “revolution,” he was able to keep the outbursts in check. His soldiers, mostly sympathizers of the uprising movement, struck a delicate balance to avoid choosing between their loyalty to the army and their loyalty to the people. On October 14, 2021, militiamen from the Shiite Amal movement (affiliated with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri) and Hezbollah attacked a Christian neighborhood, triggering violent clashes in which seven gunmen were killed. Joseph Aoun’s orders to shoot gunmen at sight prevented the incident from escalating into a civil war.
As the country’s currency devalued, the budget of the 77,000-strong army dropped from $1.8 billion in 2018 to less than $100 million today. It may be a poor army, but it does have a few friends. The United States, France, and the Gulf countries provided equipment; no expensive submarines or fighter planes, but logistics and training. That made the Lebanese special forces one of the best in the Middle East. Assistance also covered the army’s health services, which benefit 410,000 military personnel and their families, an estimated 10% of the population.
The Lebanese Army is multi-confessional, like the country itself. 50% of the officers are Christian and 50% Muslim.
With the memory of the army’s division along sectarian lines still resonating, troops have been shielded from the escalating sectarian rhetoric. It will be recalled that at the outbreak of the civil war in 1975, army officers were divided, each siding with militias belonging to their own confession.
The situation in Lebanon has further deteriorated since President Michel Aoun’s term expired on October 31, 2022, and no successor was elected. The caretaker government continues to do business in the absence of a new president.
Given the political deadlock and serious security risks, Joseph Aoun summoned his officers and told them, “Lebanon without the army is chaos; we must preserve the nation.” He implicitly warned political rivals against provoking violence, stressing on the occasion of Independence Day on November 22 that “Lebanon is facing serious political challenges. Until this situation settles, violence will not be tolerated. Our job is to keep the country safe.”
Lebanon is the only country where a president is elected without being a candidate. He should be a Maronite Christian and needs a majority vote in Parliament.
Since Michel Aoun’s departure, Parliament has been unable to elect a new president. Two main rival blocs are impeding a vote. Hezbollah and its allies on the one hand, and the opposing sovereign bloc on the other. However, the name of Gen. Joseph Aoun has been circulating insistently for a while now, although he is not a candidate for the time being.
Circles close to the Army’s commander in chief believe that he has more power than a president who would make concessions in order to be elected. The man is becoming more popular, and he could be elected should a consensus be reached. So, as a good military man, he would explore a plan to save the country.
While he is busy patching up the sinking ship, one of his teams is working on a three-year salvation plan focused on five key points, which This is Beirut was able to consult: returning depositors’ savings which have been blocked since 2019 over 3 to 5 years; stabilizing the national currency; reforming the electricity sector which has eaten up 45 billion dollars and barely supplies 1 to 2 hours of electricity per day; fighting corruption; and ensuring the independence of the judicial authorities.
Joseph Aoun is well aware that he needs the full support of officials in his administration to be able to implement his ambitious plan. In the meantime, the General and his soldiers are on alert, ready to mobilize to contain any incident. The army commander has also been seeking help from friendly countries to safeguard his army.
