French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed the "crucial election" by Lebanese lawmakers of army chief Joseph Aoun as president and said he would soon visit the country.

Macron spoke with the president hours after Aoun was announced as the leader to end a two-year vacuum in the country's top post.

The United Arab Emirates has detained the son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement following his extradition from Lebanon, Emirati state media reported.

Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, who was arrested in Lebanon after crossing into the country from Syria on December 28, faces charges of "activities that aim to stir and undermine public security," the WAM state news agency reported.

U.S. President Joe Biden has welcomed the election of Joseph Aoun as Lebanon's president, saying in a statement that the army chief was the "right leader" for the war-battered country.

Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides has become the foreign head of state and first foreign dignitary to pay an official visit to Lebanon's new President Joseph Aoun.

Aoun, the former commander of the Lebanese army, was elected Thursday by the Lebanese parliament to fill a more than two-year vacuum in the presidency.

U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein on Thursday told Al-Arabiya English that electing a president is "a great day for Lebanon" and a step toward peace, security and stability, shortly after General Joseph Aoun was elected as the country’s new president.

The head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad announced Thursday that Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement protected “national consensus” by choosing to vote for President Joseph Aoun in the second round of the presidential election session.

Iran's embassy in Beirut welcomed on Thursday the election of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, expressing hopes for close cooperation between the two countries.

"We congratulate brotherly Lebanon for the election of General Joseph Aoun," said the embassy in a statement on X, adding that "we look forward to working together... and to cooperate in different fields in a way that serves the common interests for our countries."

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.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed on Thursday the election of Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun as Lebanon's president, expressing hope that it would help achieve stability.

"I hope that this choice will contribute towards stability, a better future for Lebanon and its people and to good neighborly relations," Saar, whose country was at war with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah until late last year, said on X.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, congratulated Thursday Joseph Aoun on his election as President of the Republic of Lebanon. The Special Coordinator welcomed the election of a president as "a long-awaited first step towards overcoming Lebanon’s political and institutional vacuum and providing the Lebanese people with the functioning state institutions they deserve."

"A prime minister must be designated and a government formed without delay. The tasks ahead of the Lebanese State are too monumental to waste any more time," Hennis-Plasschaert stressed. "Now is the moment for each and every decision-maker to put the interest of Lebanon above all personal or political considerations."