Lebanese army commander elected president weeks after a tenuous cease-fire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Lebanese government bonds extended their three-month-long rally on Thursday as the crisis-ravaged country's parliament voted in a new head of state for the first time since 2022.

Lebanon’s parliament has elected its US-backed army chief to be the country’s next president, ending a years-long political stalemate and presidential vacuum.

The election of army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun garnered rare consensus among the Lebanese, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia in the first presidential election for Lebanon following the fall of the Assad regime.

Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who enjoys U.S. approval and showing the diminished sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.

A ruthless warlord during the civil war, his nomination for president would be deeply divisive. Indeed, he was one of General Aoun’s earliest supporters. Trying to veto a candidate who had little chance of winning anyway says much about Hizbullah’s diminished power.

Lebanon lawmakers elected army commander Joseph Aoun as the country’s first president in more than two years, picking a US-backed candidate in a sign of Iran’s waning influence in the region.

Lebanon’s parliament convened Thursday to make yet another effort to elect a president, filling a vacuum that's lasted for more than two years. A first round of voting showed Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun as the frontrunner,

The Lebanese parliament elected armed forces commander Joseph Aoun as the country's new president on Thursday in a second round of voting. Aoun received 99 votes in a second vote from the 128-member parliament.