Joseph Khalil Aoun[a][b] (born 10 January 1964) is a Lebanese politician and former army general who has served as the 14th president of Lebanon since 2025. He has previously served as the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, and is the fifth president with a military background.
Born to a Maronite Christian family in the Beirut suburb of Sin el Fil, Aoun enrolled in the Lebanese American University where he got a bachelor's degree in political science and also another degree in military science from the Lebanese Army Military Academy. In 1983, Aoun joined the Lebanese Armed Forces and mainly received military training abroad in Syria and the United States, where he underwent counter-terrorism in 2008, and also in 2013 in Lebanon. In 1990, Aoun served in the Lebanese Commando Regiment in the Lebanese Armed Forces and participated in the War of Elimination where he fought for Michel Aoun (no relation). The commander of the unit, Bassam Gergi, was killed, and thus Aoun took over and became the commander.
In 2015, Aoun was appointed commander of the 9th Brigade deployed on the border with Israel. Two years later in March 2017, he was officially appointed commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, replacing Jean Kahwaji. During this time, Aoun gained national popularity due to his leadership style and his role in fighting terrorist groups like the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. Since 2022, Aoun was consistently reported as one of the possible presidential candidates to succeed President Michel Aoun in the presidential election. In January 2025, Aoun was elected president, thus ending a two-year political crisis.