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.

Joseph Aoun, Lebanon's army chief who was elected president on Thursday, is a political neophyte whose position as head of one of the country's most respected institutions helped end a two-year deadlock.

Lebanese lawmakers elected army chief Joseph Aoun as president on Thursday, ending a more than two-year vacancy and marking a step towards lifting the war-battered country out of financial meltdown.