Then, a Saudi delegation headed by the kingdom’s envoy, Prince Yazid bin Farhan, flew into Beirut for the second time in a week. It held a blitz of meetings with various political parties. By the time they left, there was only one candidate left: the US-backed Aoun.

In Riyadh meeting, US and Saudi Arabia agreed they had 'once in thirty-year opportunity' to sideline Hezbollah with election of new president

A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead. In Lebanon, the parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.