New president Aoun says country entering 'new phase'

Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun told parliament on Thursday that the country was entering a new phase, in his first speech after being elected head of the crisis-hit country.

"Today, a new phase in Lebanon's history begins," Aoun told lawmakers after being sworn in at parliament immediately after his election, adding that he would call for "quick parliamentary consultations" on naming a new prime minister and vowing that the state would have "a monopoly" on arms after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Aoun also pledged to carry out reforms to the judicial system, fight corruption, control the country’s borders and “ensure the activation of the security services and to discuss a strategic defense policy that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation from all Lebanese territories” in southern Lebanon, where the Israeli military has not yet withdrawn from dozens of villages.

"I pledge to call for discussing a comprehensive defense strategy... on the diplomatic, economic and military levels that will enable the Lebanese state -- I repeat, the Lebanese state -- to remove the Israeli occupation and deter its aggression," he said.

He also vowed to reconstruct “what the Israeli army destroyed in the south, east and (Beirut’s southern) suburbs.”