About a month ago, and out of developments’ context, the Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun surprised the political class. He addressed them by saying: “Honorable officials, where are you going?” “What do you intend to do?” “Do you want an army or not?”

This was during a meeting of the Armed Forces Commander General Joseph Aoun in Yarze with the command staff and leaders of major units and independent regiments, and Military Council members.

The army commander did not ask questions only, but rather presented facts and gave decisive answers. He shouted warning: “The situation is dangerous, very dangerous”.
Usually, such meetings do not go out into the media, but it seems that the army commander deliberately made a decision to publish them through media in order to put officials in the face of  facts, the most prominent of which is that the situation has become unbearable

In summer 2018, and from Major General Fouad Chehab Museum, who was a President of the Republic, General Joseph Aoun issued a loud cry in the face of those whose behavior warned of encircling the military establishment with the aim of weakening it, He said: “we will not be complacent”

Today the big “collision” occurred, so where is the army chief? Where is the military establishment?

It is clear that the West, and the United States in particular, have taken the decision to support the army at all levels: financial, military, and supply. Beirut was crowded with foreign military delegations to explore the needs of the army, and aid began to arrive, whether it was supplies or military, according to the needs determined by the military establishment.

This attention has reached its peak with France’s invitation to the Army Commander to visit it. The meetings were not limited to a meeting with the Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense. The surprise was that French President Emmanuel Macron received General Joseph Aoun, in a move that surprised senior Lebanese officials and politicians who saw in it more than simply France’s meeting of the Lebanese army needs. France has never been stingy in its military aid to the Lebanese Army, and many Lebanese army officers have followed and are still pursuing military courses in French military institutes.

It seems that France, and through this step, has made its decision to move away from the traditional political class in Lebanon and get closer to the revolution groups, civil society and the military establishment. The head of French diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, on his recent visit to Lebanon, deliberately avoided meeting the political class and his meetings were limited to the president of the republic, and the House of Representatives and a quick meeting with the designated Prime Minister in the Pine Palace , but the prominent and expanded meetings were with groups of the revolution, and this reinforces the impression that France has lost hope in the political class.

Beyond France, and with reliable information, the army chief received an invitation to visit Washington, so will the French-American coordination towards Lebanon,  begin with military aid to reach another place?