Lebanese Army chief Joseph Aoun, the frontrunner in Thursday's vote for president, is a political neophyte but is expected to benefit from his position as head of one of the country's most respected institutions.

Widely seen as the preferred pick of army backer the United States, as well as regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, he is perceived as being best placed to maintain a fragile ceasefire and pull the country out of financial collapse.

Army Commander General Joseph Aoun was elected as the new president of Lebanon Thursday with 99 votes, which ended more than two years of presidential vacuum.

Thirteen MPs voted for “sovereignty and the constitution”, nine cast blank ballots, two voted for the lawyer Chebli Mallat as five ballots were considered spoiled.

Parliament convened Thursday in a session that could see army chief Joseph Aoun elected as president following a vacancy of more than two years.

Before starting to vote, MPs made fiery statements with some of them engaging in verbal clashes over foreign interference in the elections and the unconstitutionality of electing Aoun.

Hezbollah and the Amal Movement will vote for Army Commander General Joseph Aoun in Thursday’s presidential election session, granting him the votes needed to become the country’s new president, TV networks said.

U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon patrol through rocky hills and olive groves near the border with Israel, ahead of a deadline for a truce in the war with Hezbollah that some residents fear will not hold.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has voiced hope for lasting peace in Lebanon after the United States reported an Israeli pullout.

Lebanon's lawmakers on Thursday began a session that could see army chief Joseph Aoun elected as president following a vacancy of more than two years, an AFP reporter said.

While 12 previous attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun, whose term ended in October 2022, there are indications that Thursday's vote may produce a head of state.

The Development and Liberation bloc of Speaker Nabih Berri has become inclined to vote for Army chief Joseph Aoun in Thursday’s presidential election session, media reports said Wednesday afternoon.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein said during the latest meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee that Israel would withdraw within 15 days from south Lebanon’s western, central and eastern sectors, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Biden administration in its final days is shifting more than $100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon as it tries to bolster a ceasefire agreement it helped mediate between Israel and Hezbollah.

In separate notices sent to Congress, the State Department said it was moving $95 million in military assistance intended for Egypt and $7.5 million for Israel toward supporting the Lebanese army and its government. The notices were dated Jan. 3 and obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.