Lebanon's parliament has voted to elect the country's army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
It was the legislature's 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.
Aoun is widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need as it seeks to rebuild after a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
