Lebanon parliament to elect president as army deploys under truce

BEIRUT

Lebanon's parliament will meet on Jan. 9 to elect a new president to end more than two years without a head of state, as the country’s military deployed troops and tanks across the south yesterday under the ceasefire.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with neither of the two main blocs, Hezbollah and its opponents, having the majority required to elect one, and unable to reach a consensus.

On Nov. 27 after the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, "I hope this will be a new page for Lebanon, I hope the coming days will lead to the election of a president."

Meanwhile, Lebanon's soldiers deployed troops and tanks across the country's south as a ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war largely held for a second day.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers were to become the only armed presence in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah has long held sway.

A Lebanese army source said its forces were "conducting patrols and setting up checkpoints" south of the Litani River without advancing into areas where Israeli forces were still present.

Long road to recover

While there was joy around Lebanon that the war has ended, it will take the country a long time to recover.

Even prior to the conflict, it had been wracked for years by political and economic crisis, with World Bank data from earlier this year indicating poverty had tripled in a decade.

In its first statement after the truce deal, Hezbollah proclaimed that it had achieved "victory" in the war against Israel.

However, one source said the Iran-backed group may have lost up to 4,000 people, well over 10 times the number killed in its month-long 2006 war with Israel.

Hezbollah has been left deeply shaken, with its leadership still grappling with the assassination of its former leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah's agenda includes working to re-establish its organizational structure fully, probing security breaches that helped Israel land so many painful blows, and a full review of the last year including its mistakes in underestimating Israel's technological capabilities, three other sources familiar with the group's thinking said.