Lebanon's newly elected president, Joseph Aoun, said Thursday that "a new phase" has started for the war-ravaged country and pledged to rebuild the state, adopt a policy of "positive neutrality" and fight corruption.

After years of gridlock, Lebanon’s parliament elected Aoun, the chief military commander, as president. His win could unlock money for postwar reconstruction.

Lebanon’s 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. The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.