Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a meeting on Thursday that centered around the future leadership of the military institution whose Commander-in-Chief General Joseph Aoun retires at the end of his mandate on January 10.
The two officials emphasized that the issue of the Army command must be approached “calmly and carefully,” and that the “desired results can be achieved.”
All eyes are focused on this topic that is of great concern at this time of major tensions and regional instability.
Berri and Mikati underlined the need to strengthen and preserve the military, which is largely regarded as the unifying national institution and guardian of the Lebanese people’s aspirations, security and national sovereignty.
Several reliable sources told This Is Beirut that Lebanese officials have “started the engines” to prevent a vacuum at the head of the military institution amid the current climate of military threats.
The urgency is made more pressing by the fact that the position of the Army’s Chief of Staff, which is meant to ensure interim leadership in the event of a vacancy at the helm of the military institution, has itself been vacant since last December.
The matter is believed to have been discussed during General Aoun’s meeting with Berri on Monday, as well as during meetings held this week between Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Gebran Bassil, Mikati and former Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt.
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