The Biden administration in its final days is shifting more than $100 million in military aid from Israel and Egypt to Lebanon as it tries to bolster a ceasefire agreement it helped mediate between Israel and Hezbollah.

With the deadline looming for the terms of a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to be met, an American diplomat on Monday said “much progress” had been made recently.

Lebanon's parliament chose the head of the country's armed forces, Joseph Aoun, to be its next president, a post that's been vacant since October 2022.

Lebanon lawmakers elected army commander Joseph Aoun as the country’s first president in more than two years, picking a U.S.-backed candidate in a sign of Iran’s waning influence in the region.

General Joseph Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States, which funds, trains, and arms the Lebanese military and helped broker a cease-fire between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah in November.

General Joseph Aoun secured 99 votes from the 128-seat parliament, after winning an endorsement from the Hezbollah-backed candidate. The career soldier is the fifth army commander to be elected president in Lebanon’s history.

As the country endured economic crisis and a devastating war, lawmakers failed 12 times to pick a head of state. They have now settled on Joseph Aoun, the leader of the military.

Lebanon has been through several extended presidential vacancies, with the longest lasting nearly 2 1/2 years between May 2014 and October 2016.

US and Arab mediators made some progress in their efforts to reach a ceasefire accord between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but not enough to seal a deal, said Palestinian sources close to the talks on Thursday.

Lebanon’s parliament elected Army Chief Joseph Aoun as the country’s new president on Thursday, bringing an end to a prolonged political deadlock and presidential vacancy, CNN reported. Aoun was elected after two rounds of voting,