Lebanon’s president has chosen betrayal as the cornerstone of his rule

Lebanon’s president, Josef Aoun, has chosen betrayal as the cornerstone of his rule. Only months into his six-year term (ending 9 January 2031), he has thrown himself into the US–Israeli project, opening a confrontation with the resistance and shredding the last vestiges of his credibility. Once presented as a potential mediator, Aoun is partnered in blocking financial aid to Hezbollah, to reconstruct what Israel has destroyed, and has lied to Hezbollah, AMAL, and all those who stood against American and Saudi diktats.

Instead of honouring his commitments, he has aligned with foreign patrons whose generosity (Saudi Arabia is very generous with the Lebanese president, according to former president Emile Lahud, providing a personal handsome monthly payment) flows to him personally while leaving Lebanon itself to pay the price.

By siding so brazenly with US–Israeli interests, Aoun has chained Lebanon’s future to instability. With almost six years still to run in his presidency, the country stares down the barrel of prolonged unrest — or, in the worst case, civil war. This is no idle speculation. Lebanon’s bloody past makes clear what happens when power is stripped of legitimacy. Aoun’s choice to stand with external agendas has emptied the presidency of sovereignty and turned it into a lever for others’ wars.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, with perhaps six months left before parliamentary elections, is a sideshow; the presidency is the immovable centre of power. And so the question must be asked: in a civil war, what would Aoun rule? Would he lean on takfiri militants spilling over from Syria, or call on the Israeli Air Force to save him? Either scenario exposes him as a president without a country, a leader willing to preside over fragments of a shattered state if that is what his patrons demand. Washington could, in theory, order its allies in Beirut to ease off, but this is unlikely.

Israel has every interest in a Lebanon pushed back into chaos, and Aoun has made himself the willing instrument of that design.

Lebanon’s president, Josef Aoun, has chosen betrayal as the cornerstone of his rule. Only months into his six-year term (ending 9 January 2031), he has thrown himself into the US–Israeli project, opening a confrontation with the resistance and shredding the last vestiges of his…

— Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) August 16, 2025