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Lebanese Govt Completes Security Appointments Based on ‘Experience and Competence

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confers the rank of “General” on the new Army Commander, Rodolphe Haikal (AP).
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confers the rank of “General” on the new Army Commander, Rodolphe Haikal (AP).
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Lebanese Govt Completes Security Appointments Based on ‘Experience and Competence

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confers the rank of “General” on the new Army Commander, Rodolphe Haikal (AP).
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun confers the rank of “General” on the new Army Commander, Rodolphe Haikal (AP).

The Lebanese government has finalized military and security appointments in a single move, selecting candidates based on “experience and competence,” according to Minister of Information Paul Morcos.
The new appointments include Brigadier General Rodolphe Haikal as Commander of the Army, following his promotion to the rank of “General”; Brigadier General Hassan Choucair as Director General of General Security, after being promoted to “Major General”; Brigadier General Raed Abdullah as Director General of the Internal Security Forces, also after his promotion to “Major General”; and Brigadier General Edgar Lawand as Director General of State Security, following his elevation to “Major General.” Additionally, Brigadier General Mourched Hajj Sleiman has been appointed Deputy Director General of State Security.
Morcos emphasized that these military and security appointments were made based on experience and competence, adding: “We, in the Council of Ministers, work with great precision, ensuring strict adherence to standards and qualifications.”
President Joseph Aoun stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation “stressed the urgent need to appoint a new Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon and highlighted the importance of passing banking secrecy legislation, which still requires further amendments, as well as restructuring the banking sector.”
During the cabinet session, Aoun briefed the government on his meeting with a delegation from the IMF, revealing that “a committee has been formed, chaired by the Minister of Finance and including the Minister of Economy, the acting Governor of the Central Bank, two advisors, and the Prime Minister’s advisor, Lamia Moubayed, to follow up on the issues raised by the delegation.”
The president added: “The IMF underscored the importance of reaching an agreement with the Fund before the summer, given previous unsuccessful attempts, and stressed the need for cooperation among all relevant Lebanese authorities.”
“The key to restoring confidence in Lebanon—both domestically and internationally—is implementing economic, banking, and financial reforms,” he remarked.
The IMF delegation also reiterated the necessity of appointing a new Central Bank Governor and establishing a centralized data center for all sections of the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, they stressed the need to pass two key laws: one addressing banking secrecy, which still requires additional amendments despite recent changes, and another focused on restructuring the banking sector.
Regarding recent developments in Syria, Aoun stated that security agencies, along with the Ministries of Interior and Defense, are closely monitoring the situation to ensure full readiness. He also announced that following the release of four Lebanese prisoners previously detained by Israel during the recent conflict, “the fifth prisoner was released on Thursday as a result of indirect negotiations.”
Army Commander
Army Commander General Rodolphe Haikal enlisted as an officer cadet and joined the Military Academy in 1990. He steadily rose through the ranks and held various assignments before being appointed in 2023 as Commander of the South Litani Sector along the border with Israel. Since the summer of 2024, he has served as Director of Operations in the Army Staff for Operations.

 

 

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Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
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Displaced Syrians Who Have Returned Home Face a Fragile Future, Says UN Refugees Chief

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)
A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syria's interim Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani (R) meeting with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi in the Syrian capital Damascus on June 20, 2025. (SANA / AFP)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Friday that more than two million Syrian refugees and internally displaced people have returned home since the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad in December.

Speaking during a visit to Damascus that coincided with World Refugee Day, Grandi described the situation in Syria as “fragile and hopeful” and warned that the returnees may not remain if Syria does not get more international assistance to rebuild its war-battered infrastructure.

“How can we make sure that the return of the Syrian displaced or refugees is sustainable, that people don’t move again because they don’t have a house or they don’t have a job or they don’t have electricity?” Grandi asked a small group of journalists after the visit, during which he met with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and spoke with returning refugees.

“What is needed for people to return, electricity but also schools, also health centers, also safety and security,” he said.

Syria’s near 14-year civil war, which ended last December with the ouster of Assad in a lightning opposition offensive, killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Grandi said that 600,000 Syrians have returned to the country since Assad’s fall, and about another 1.5 million internally displaced people returned to their homes in the same period.

However, there is little aid available for the returnees, with multiple crises in the region -- including the new Israel-Iran war -- and shrinking support from donors. The UNHCR has reduced programs for Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, including healthcare, education and cash support for hundreds of thousands in Lebanon.

“The United States suspended all foreign assistance, and we were very much impacted, like others, and also other donors in Europe are reducing foreign assistance,” Grandi said, adding: “I tell the Europeans in particular, be careful. Remember 2015, 2016 when they cut food assistance to the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, the Syrians moved toward Europe.”

Some have also fled for security reasons since Assad's fall. While the situation has stabilized since then, particularly in Damascus, the new government has struggled to extend its control over all areas of the country and to bring a patchwork of former opposition groups together into a national army.

Grandi said the UNHCR has been in talks with the Lebanese government, which halted official registration of new refugees in 2015, to register the new refugees and “provide them with basic assistance.”

“This is a complex community, of course, for whom the chances of return are not so strong right now,” he said. He said he had urged the Syrian authorities to make sure that measures taken in response to the attacks on civilians “are very strong and to prevent further episodes of violence.”

The Israel-Iran war has thrown further fuel on the flames in a region already dealing with multiple crises. Grandi noted that Iran is hosting millions of refugees from Afghanistan who may now be displaced again.

The UN does not yet have a sense of how many people have fled the conflict between Iran and Israel, he said.

“We know that some Iranians have gone to neighboring countries, like Azerbaijan or Armenia, but we have very little information. No country has asked for help yet,” he said. “And we have very little sense of the internal displacement, because my colleagues who are in Iran - they’re working out of bunkers because of the bombs.”