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.

The election of army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun garnered rare consensus among the Lebanese, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia in the first presidential election for Lebanon following the fall of the Assad regime.