Founder – The Free Patriotic Movement

Born in Haret Hreik on September 30, 1933 to Naim and Marie Aoun. Married to Nadia Chami since November 30, 1968, they have three daughters: Mireille, Claudine and Chantal.

Academic Background

He studied at the ‘Sacré-Cœur School’ (Frères) in Gemmayze, Beirut till 1955
He joined the Military Academy on October 1955

Diplomas and Overseas Training Sessions

30/09/1958: He graduated the Military Academy as Second Lieutenant in the Artillery Corps
1958 – 1959: Session on artillery application at Châlons–sur-Marne, France
1966: Advanced artillery session at the USA Army Artillery and Missile School, USA
1978 – 1980: Staff Session at the High War Institute, Paris, France
1983: Session on maneuvers at Fort Benning, USA

Decorations, Commendations and Felicitations

Medal of War, four times (11/06/1975, 12/09/1983, 13/09/1983 and 16/09/1983)
Medal for battle wounds (10/09/1983)
Lebanese Order of Merit, Extraordinary Grade (31/10/2016)
Lebanese Order of Merit, Grand Cordon (24/04/2014)
Lebanese Order of Merit, 1st grade – Gold (17/10/1986)
Lebanese Order of Merit, 2nd grade – Silver with Palm (27/05/1983)
Lebanese Order of Merit, 3rd grade – silver (10/06/1971)
National Order of the Cedar, Grand Collar (31/10/2016)
National Order of the Cedar, Grand Cordon (09/12/1988)
National Order of the Cedar, Officer (15/10/1988)
National Order of the Cedar, Knight (27/05/1983)
Commemorative Medal of December 31, 1961 (31/12/1961)
Commendation of the commander-in-chief of the Army six times
Felicitation of the commander-in-chief three times

Foreign Decorations

Commander of the Legion of Honor, France (29/01/1989)
Grand-Cross of the Legion of Honor, France (27/09/2017)

Career and Positions

Promotions in the Military

30/09/1958

Promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant

01/07/1961

Promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant

01/08/1968

Promoted to the rank of Captain

01/01/1974

Promoted to the rank of Major

01/10/1975

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel

01/01/1980

Promoted to the rank of Staff Colonel

01/01/1984

Promoted to the rank of Staff Brigadier General

23/06/1984

Promoted to the rank of Staff General, Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Army

Postings in the Military

01/07/1959

2nd Artillery Regiment

01/10/1959

Platoon Leader, 2nd Battery, 2nd Artillery Regiment

01/10/1961

Exploration Officer, 3rd Battery, 2nd Artillery Regiment

16/10/1962

Head of the shooting preparation center, 2nd Battery, 2nd Artillery Regiment

02/12/1964

Commander of the 3rd Battery, 3rd Artillery Regiment

01/07/1969

Commander of the 1st Battery, 1st Artillery Regiment

14/12/1970

Deputy Commander of the 1st Artillery Regiment

15/04/1972

Assistant Commander of the 1st Artillery Battalion // Commander of the Administrative Detachment // Acting Commander of the Company of Command and service

27/07/1972

At the disposal of the Army Command

14/09/1972

Operational Assistant to the Commander of the 1st Artillery Regiment // Logistic Assistant

17/09/1973

Commander of the 2nd Artillery Regiment

21/10/1976

At the disposal of the Artillery Corps Commander

06/02/1976

At the disposal of the General Inspector to help him with judicial investigations

23/08/1976

Commander of the Artillery Corps

04/07/1978

Army Headquarters, overseas session

20/09/1980

Acting Head of Technical Bureau, Army Staff for Personnel

24/12/1980

Commander of the Ain El Remmaneh – Baabda Sector

14/08/1982

Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Army Forces in charge of maintaining Peace in Beirut

18/01/1983

Commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade

23/06/1984

Commander-in-Chief of the Lebanese Army

In Politics

22/09/1988

He was designated President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of National Defense and Information, by virtue of Decrees Nos. 5387 & 5388, while keeping his military rank in the Army

04/10/1988

He was assigned the duties of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, the Ministry of National Education and Fine Arts and the Ministry of Interior ad interim, throughout the absence of the original minister

13/10/1990

He moved to the French Embassy in Beirut after the Syrian invasion, as per the request of the French Ambassador René Ala, in view of negotiating a cease-fire, and remained there till August 27, 1991

28/02/1991

He left Lebanon for France

07/05/2005

He returned to Beirut after the withdrawal of the Syrian Forces from Lebanon

12/06/2005

He was elected Member of Parliament for the Kesserwan-Jbeil constituency, and he headed the “Change and reform” Block in the Lebanese Parliament

18/09/2005

He was elected President of the “Free Patriotic Movement” Party

07/06/2009

He was reelected Member of Parliament for the Kesserwan District

31/10/2016

He was elected President of the Lebanese Republic. He is the thirteenth President since Independence.

30/10/2022

One day before the end of his term, he left Baabda Palace for his home in Rabieh, amid huge popular crowds that accompanied his move from Baabda to Rabieh. In the speech he delivered as he left the presidential palace, he declared that he would not retire from political life and would continue his struggle in fighting corruption and building the state.

31/10/2022

His presidential term ended

Main Speeches and Lectures

21/11/1988

Independence speech when he was Prime Minister of the transitional government

21/11/1989

Independence speech when he was Prime Minister of the transitional government

11/06/1994

Address at the Lebanese National Conference, Paris

05/12/1995

Letter to the Synod for Lebanon

20/05/1996

Letter to the European Parliament, Strasbourg

12/03/1998

Lecture entitled “Lebanon: past, present and future”, ESSEC Institute, Paris

22/05/2000

Lecture at the French Parliament about the Lebanese situation

12/10/2000

Lecture entitled “Dialogue: Road to Salvation”, Imperial College, London

23/02/2001

Lecture entitled “Ten years of peace without peace”, Lyon – France

24/01/2002

Lecture entitled “Dialogue or confrontation between civilizations?”, Versailles – France

07/03/2002

Lecture entitled “Stability in Lebanon and Peace in the Middle-East”, ESSEC Institute, Paris

07/03/2003

Lecture at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, Washington

05/06/2003

Lecture entitled “World War 3, a war on terrorism”, ‘Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences-Po)’, Paris

18/09/2003

Deposition at the US Congress in favor of the ‘Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act’

21/11/2004

Official letter to the Lebanese parties and personalities and to the Syrian State to take part in a dialogue aimed at reaching an agreement about the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, which would be an honorable exit for all

07/04/2005

Lecture at the ‘Maison de la Recherche Paris Sorbonne’, Paris

22/11/2005

Lecture entitled “the New Lebanon, from liberation to reform”, National Press Club, Washington

05/11/2008

Presentation of his defense strategy conception around the table of dialogue held at the Presidential Palace

10/10/2010

Letter to the Synod for the Levant

31/10/2016

Inaugural Speech

29/03/2017

Lebanon’s address at the 28th Session of the Arab Summit, Amman

21/09/2017

Lebanon’s Address at the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York

30/11/2017

Lecture about Terrorism at the Rome Med 2017 Conference, Rome

13/12/2017

Lebanon’s address at the extraordinary Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Istanbul

15/04/2018

Lebanon’s address at the 29th session of the Arab Summit, Al Zahran

22/09/2018

Lebanon’s address at the European Parliament, Strasbourg

26/09/2018

Lebanon’s address at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York

21/11/2018

Address to the nation on Lebanon’s 75th Independence Day

20/01/2019

Lebanon’s address at the Arab development summit, Beirut

31/03/2019

Lebanon’s address at the Arab Summit, Tunis

31/08/2019

Lecture on the Centenary of the Proclamation of the Greater Lebanon

25/09/2019

Lebanon’s address at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York