Lebanon’s new president and former army commander Joseph Aoun has maintained a low profile. Those who know him say he is no-nonsense and averse to affiliating himself with any party or even expressing a political opinion.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will meet Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Saturday, two Lebanese sources said, becoming the first head of government to visit Syria's capital since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

1920 - The League of Nations grants the mandate for Lebanon and Syria to France, which creates the State of Greater Lebanon out of the provinces of Mount Lebanon, north Lebanon, south Lebanon and the Bekaa. 1926 - Lebanese Representative Council approves a constitution and the unified Lebanese Republic under the French mandate is declared.

Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum. The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking

Lebanon's last president, Michel Aoun, left office two years ago, and the position has remained vacant since. He bears no relation to Joseph Aoun. On Thursday, the country is set to hold elections to fill the top post, potentially ushering in a new era of leadership.

Though Lebanon’s presidency is mostly symbolic, it has a few important powers, like approving prime ministers and cabinets. In a country still haunted by the memory of civil war, symbolism is important too: how the head of state is chosen says much about the balance of power in Lebanon’s factious politics.

Lebanon’s parliament elected military commander Joseph Aoun as president, ending a two-year political deadlock in the country that resulted in a leadership and governance vacuum.

Fire officials in Lebanon are investigating what sparked a fire that left some people trapped on the roof of a burning building.

Flying south through smoky skies down the famous Malibu coast, at first the burnt-out mansions are the exception -- solitary wrecks, smoldering away between rows of intact, gleaming beachfront villas.Where row upon row of family homes once stood, all that remain are occasional chimneys, blackened tree stumps and charred timber.

Several thousand people, including the Vatican’s secretary of state and the patriarch of Jerusalem, attended the consecration ceremony of the Catholic building, one of the largest in the Middle East.

Lebanon’s parliament chose the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.