BEIRUT — (AP) — Lebanon’s new president and former army commander Joseph Aoun has maintained a low profile. Those who know him say he is no-nonsense, kind and averse to affiliating himself with any party or even expressing a political opinion — a rarity for someone in Lebanon’s fractured, transactional political system.
Bilal Saab, a former Pentagon official who is now senior managing director of the TRENDS US consulting firm, often met Aoun while overseeing Washington’s security cooperation in the Middle East. He called Aoun a “very sweet man, very compassionate, very warm” who avoided political discussions “like the plague.”
“He really was viciously nonpartisan, did not have any interest in even delivering speeches or doing media,” Saab said. “He wanted to take care of business, and his only order of business was commanding the Lebanese army.”
That might make Aoun an odd fit as Lebanon’s president after being elected Thursday — ending a more than two-year …