Behind the scenes of the rejection of Mansour’s extension and the election of Kahwagi .. Was the alliance between the army and the intelligence leadership dismantled?

Hayam Al-Qasifi wrote in the Al-Akhbar newspaper under the headline “Yarze and Baabda: Political and Security Narratives in the Presidency Line”: “At the end of the first week of next December, the mandate of the Intelligence Director of the Army, Brigadier General Tony Mansour. A new intelligence director, and is the second “director” to be appointed during the era of the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Joseph Aoun, and during the era of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun. Kahwagi has two years, in principle, in the Directorate, before the term of the President of the Republic ends and a new president is elected, who usually elects a new leader. The army, knowing that Aoun also has a term of three years and two months before the end of his years of service, and the latter chooses his team starting with the intelligence director, or keeps the latter in his position according to the circumstances . With the developments of the stage, in the early days, he has multiple names to fill a large number of centers where appointments are supposed to be made, in which he consults with the army commander, to lead a team that is compatible with him, and with the new hierarchy after his selection in the 1994 session.

Officially, questions such as why the extension for Mansour was rejected and why Kahwaji was chosen and not the other candidates, regardless of the competence of each of them, and if his age qualifies him to assume this position, taking into account that the appointment of mayors for this position was not requested before Taif, but was assumed by officials. Lower ranks (Johnny Abdo and Gabi Lahoud were lieutenants when each took over). However, the reactions to the selection and rejection of the extension will continue for at least the next two years, given the nature of the next phase, which in practice means the start of the countdown to the presidential elections or the presidential vacuum that it has become a Lebanese custom. Because the political consequences are, above all, the focus of everything that happened weeks ago and will continue to exist.

A wrong bet on a rebound in the army.
Needless to say, the alliance has been dissolved between the army leadership and the Intelligence Directorate, simply for not extending Mansour. In the army, there is a hierarchy and the head of a hierarchy, who is the commander of the army, regardless of who he is and who his special team is, and whether he has good management and efficiency or not. It is true that the choice of the commander of the army is to extend Mansour, but it was he who drew up a list of the names of his candidates for the succession according to certain hierarchies and criteria, and it was not possible to choose any officer other than the list , although the matter requires consultation with the President of the Republic. Whoever knows the composition of the Intelligence Directorate also knows that the margin of freedom of its director is great, but it is also within the limits of the relationship with the leadership and the last signature of the army commander. And whoever knows Kahwagi also knows the extent of his aptitude, competence, discipline and technical experience in directing under more than one director, and it will also be a mistake for those who bet that he will form a separate case of the military leadership, and because also He is the son of the institution and the management and knows exactly what has surrounded it in recent years. The election of the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, for him, and his relationship with him, are not a weakness, quite the opposite, and the next few months will reflect this. ” Read the full article Press here.