BEIRUT: Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi plans to extend the terms of several ranking defense officials against protocol because Lebanon is at war, An-Nahar newspaper reported Saturday.
The Lebanese daily quoted Kahwagi’s visitors as saying that the Army chief is determined to renew the terms of all members of the Military Council.
He believes that the defense law supports such moves, and that it is part of his prerogatives “when the Army is in a battle.”
The extension of the term of Maj. Gen. Mohammad Khair, the Secretary General of the Higher Defense Council, was the first of these measures, the report said. Khair's term was extended last month by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel.
Kahwagi will also extend his own term and that of the Army’s Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Walid Sleiman.
However, he will not extend the term of Lebanese Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, who is the son-in-law of Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun.
Aoun, a former Army general, last month denounced Moqbel for extending the term of Khair, and described extensions in the military as unconstitutional.
An-Nahar had reported last month that Kahwagi would not extend Roukoz’s term because it was not under his prerogatives.
The report added that Kahwagi believes that the circumstances at the time of presidential elections will determine the name of the next president.
The new president would be a military man if the country remains at war with jihadis and an economist or businessman if the war is over, Kahwagi reportedly told visitors.
But the military chief does not see an end to the battles coming anytime soon, according to the report.
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