«Israeli» Papers: General Michel Aoun is Bad News for «Israel»!

Local Editor

The "Israeli" entity has been closely following the Lebanese presidential election that took place on Monday.

As the Parliament elected a president, the Lebanese celebrated the end of the presidential void that lasted for over 2 years. However, it was not only the Lebanese who awaited the election of their president, the "Israeli" entity and its media outlets also eyed the results.

"General Michel Aoun is Bad News for ‘Israel'!" and "Lebanon's New President Vows to ‘Protect' Country from ‘Israel'" are a couple of "Israeli" papers' headlines.

The election of General Michel Aoun as Lebanon's 17th president, according to the "Israeli" "Ynet", is bad news.

The paper added that "If Aoun is elected president in Lebanon, he will be the one to select the country's prime minister and dictate its foreign affairs; as far as ‘Israel' is concerned, this means quite a headache."

General Aoun's election as president will mean, based on "Ynet' that Iran's influence in the region will expand, "no one will bother to demand that Hizbullah disarm and hand its weapons over to the state, and the Saudis will be furious, as ‘Israel's' alert level concerning Lebanon will move one step up."

"Israeli" media outlets had paid close attention to Lebanese politics over the past years. Many "Israeli" papers consider Aoun's election as president as a threat to the existence of the "Israeli" entity; for one thing, General Aoun is a very close ally to Hizbullah.

Aoun, who is in his 80s, secured the presidency by winning the support of at least 65 MPs, or an absolute majority of the members of the 128-seat chamber, according to a Reuters tally of votes read out in a televised broadcast from parliament.

In remarks made after the election aimed at Hizbullah backers, Aoun vowed to "release what is left of our lands from the ‘Israeli' occupation," referring to contested territories along the border with the "Israeli" entity.

General Aoun alluded to the conflict with the entity as saying "We will always be ready to help and support the resistance forces in order to liberate every last meter of Lebanese territory that has not yet been returned and the attempts to take over natural resources."

"Israeli" daily Haaretz pointed out that Aoun's election "will also be viewed as a victory for Hizbullah, Tehran and Damascus over Hariri's Sunni allies in Riyadh at a time when Saudi Arabia has appeared to retreat from Lebanon."

It further added that electing Aoun as president "will also raise questions over Western policy towards Lebanon".

Many in Lebanon and the Arab world see the election as an opening for optimism in the region, and possibly a sign of Saudi Arabia's weakening as the sponsor of many parties and political organizations in the Arab world - and in particular Hariri's March 14 Alliance.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team