Michel Aoun is gone Lebanese President The 89-year-old, whose presidency witnessed a catastrophic financial collapse in Lebanon and the explosion of Beirut Port, the presidential palace left a void at the top of the Lebanese state today, Sunday.
Aoun said he signed the government’s resignation decree one day before the end of his six-year term. He added: “This morning I sent a letter to the House of Representatives, according to my constitutional powers, and I signed the government’s resignation decree.”
He continued in a speech from the presidential palace in Baabda: “We will not accept our ministers being forced upon us … We have refused protection in wartime and we will not accept it today.” She warned: “State institutions are worn out because those who manage them fear a stick that threatens them.”
The flags of the Hezbollah militia were raised in the courtyard of the Lebanese presidential palace, as supporters of President Michel Aoun gathered to accompany his exit. The flags of the President’s Movement were raised on the First Presidency campus in light of the timid presence of Lebanese flags.
Activists of the Free Patriotic Movement have been mobilizing since Friday evening, preparing to accompany Aoun’s departure from the presidential palace in Baabda (Mount Lebanon) to his new home in the Rabieh area, east of Beirut.
Aoun and people close to him have decided to leave Baabda one day before the end of his presidential term, considering it is an official holiday in Lebanon, allowing for more popular mobilization than on Monday.
The area around the Republican Palace was painted orange, which its current color adopts as its official color.
Aoun’s party tents surround the palace
It is interesting to note that in addition to the orange flags of the current that were raised in the Baabda area on the columns on the road leading to the presidential palace, the partisans set up tents in a courtyard near the palace, where they spent their last night, knowing that it is an area subject to heavy security checks and is located after the first main checkpoint of the building. .
The Lebanese parliament has so far been unable to agree on a successor to Aoun, who has the power to sign bills, appoint new prime ministers and give the go-ahead to government formations before parliament votes.
As during more than half of Aoun’s tenure, Lebanon is currently ruled by a transitional government, with the prime minister designated six months ago trying to form a government.
Aoun is a deeply divisive figure, supported by many Christians who see him as their defender in the Lebanese sectarian system, but whose critics accuse him of fostering corruption and helping the armed group Hezbollah gain influence.
Between failures and successes
Aoun assumed the presidency in 2016 with the support of Hezbollah and Maronite Christian political rival Samir Geagea in a deal that restored the eminent Sunni politician of the time, Saad Hariri, as prime minister.
Aoun’s six-year presidency thereafter saw the Lebanese army fight Islamist militants on the Syrian border in 2017 with the help of Hezbollah, a new electoral law was passed in 2018 and major energy companies began exploratory drilling in offshore areas in 2020.
In his last week at the palace, Aoun signed a US-brokered agreement to delimit Lebanon’s southern maritime border with Israel.
For many, those modest successes pale in comparison to the 2019 financial meltdown that plunged more than 80 percent of the population into poverty and led to the largest anti-government protests in modern history. And some say, “He was by far the worst president in Lebanon’s history, and I prefer a vacuum in the presidency over him.”
Aoun’s mandate was also closely linked to the 2020 explosion in the port of Beirut, which resulted in the deaths of more than 220 people.
Aoun later claimed to be aware of the chemicals stored there and claimed his presidential powers were not broad enough to deal with the economic crisis.
Aoun, the son of a farmer from a Beirut suburb, began his path to presidency in the 1975-1990 civil war, during which he served as commander of the Lebanese army and head of one of two competing governments.
Aoun returned to Beirut after 15 years of exile as Syrian forces withdrew under international pressure following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005.
In 2006, the Aoun Free Patriotic Movement formed an alliance with Hezbollah, providing important Christian support to the armed group. In his interview with Reuters, Aoun credited Hezbollah for its “helpful” role in acting as a “deterrent” against any Israeli attack during maritime border talks.
