Lebanon names new head of armed forces to succeed Joseph Aoun

Lebanon has named a new head of the armed forces to succeed Joseph Aoun, who was appointed president earlier this year.

“Brigadier General Rodolphe Haykal was named commander in chief of the armed forces,” Minister of Information Paul Morcos says after a cabinet meeting, also confirming a number of other security appointments.

Haykal, 56, was made the army’s chief of operations last June, having previously served as the commander of the army sector south of the Litani River, according to the army’s website.

That area bore the brunt of the near-daily exchange of fire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group during more than a year of hostilities that ended with a November 27 ceasefire.

Haykal is expected to play a key role in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, a security source tells AFP, adding that he was Aoun’s favoured candidate for the post.

According to multi-confessional Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the army chief must be a Maronite Christian.

Morcos also announced earlier today the appointment of the heads of the internal security, general security and state security apparatuses, as well as the approval of the defense ministry’s request to recruit 4,500 soldiers to reinforce troops in the south, where the army is deploying alongside UN peacekeepers as part of the ceasefire agreement.