On 13 October, the Syrian forces launched a decisive operation against Aoun, invading his strongholds including the Presidential Palace in Baabda and killing hundreds of Lebanese soldiers and civilians.

In 2016, Aoun reconciled with Geagea after signing the Maarab Agreement, and was endorsed by the Lebanese Forces, Future Movement, Progressive Socialist Party as well as Hezbollah to become the thirteenth President of Lebanon.

In 2019, the country descended into chaos with a popular uprising, bringing millions of Lebanese in Lebanon and abroad to take to the streets, mainly caused by the liquidity crisis, political corruption and sectarianism.

He suggested that Aoun proposed to Gemayel signing a mutual recognition agreement between Lebanon and Israel along with a joint defense pact, and was accompanied by Israeli officers in his patrols.

[16] On 22 September 1988, 15 minutes before the expiration of his term, the outgoing president Amine Gemayel appointed Aoun as Prime Minister, heading a military government to be formed by six members of the Martial Court, three of which are Christian and three are Muslims.

Gemayel referenced the historical precedent of 1952, when General Fouad Chehab, a Christian Maronite, was appointed as prime minister of a transition government following the resignation of President Bechara El Khoury.

Nine days later, 24 February, with seventy people killed and the intervention of the Maronite Patriarchate the LF agreed to hand over to Aoun control of Beirut's port's fifth basin with its estimated $300,000 per month tax revenue.

Suleiman Frangieh, in the north, also returned control of Ras Salaata port in Batroun District[21] The following month, Aoun launched a blockade against the unregulated seaports south of Beirut at Jieh and Khalde.

In July 2001, he was invited to attend a symposium on the Middle East, and after further delays from the State Department, he was granted an entry visa on 11 September, right before the same day attacks.

[40] Although the Bush administration refused dealing with Aoun initially, they sent him a delegation of officials responsible for Lebanese affairs from the State Department, and explained the American position on the issue.

Aoun's testimony was condemned by the Lebanese Council of Ministers and pro-Syrian politicians and organizations, and he was accused of plotting with the Zionist Lobby against Lebanon, Syria and the Arab Nation.

Aoun held a short press conference at Beirut International Airport before heading with a convoy of loyalists and journalists to the "Grave of the Un-named Soldiers and Martyrs".

Then, he visited Samir Geagea who was in the 11th year of a lifetime jail sentence, condemned for alleged and disputed responsibility for politically motivated assassinations during the 15-year civil war.

The FPM failed however to win any seats in Northern Lebanon due mainly to the 2000 electoral law that gave the pro Hariri Muslim community of Tripoli an easy veto over any Christian candidate in its electoral district, thus falling short of its objective of holding the balance of power between the main "anti-Syrian" opposition coalition (formerly known to be Syria's strong allies) led by Saad Hariri (which won an absolute majority) and the Shiite-dominated Amal-Hezbollah alliance.

"I announce after long consideration, discussions and deliberations between members of the executive body of the Lebanese Forces, our endorsement of the candidacy of [former] General Michel Aoun for the presidency," Geagea said in joint news conference with his March 8 rival.

[60][61][62] The commitment to the implementation of the Taif Accord, the need to stop the flow of arms and militants across the Lebanese-Syrian border in both directions, the ratification of a new electoral law and compliance with international resolutions were among the key points agreed upon between the LF and FPM, Geagea said.

With humor, the LF leader asked Aoun to urge his son-in-law Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil to act in accordance with the sixth point of their agreement.

[63] Geagea's official endorsement of Aoun's nomination would provide a significant boost for the former general's presidential bid but it remains unclear how the Future Movement would react to this initiative.

Before his arrival to the LF's headquarters, Aoun met with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, who has repeatedly voiced his support for initiatives aimed at breaking the presidential deadlock.

[67] In the first official statement since Hariri's initiative emerged, Hezbollah's Politburo Chief Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed announced from the seat of the Maronite patriarchate that his party is committed to supporting the presidential bid of its ally Aoun.

[69] After 45 failed attempts to achieve a parliamentary quorum for presidential elections by the Lebanese Parliament, the 127-seat chamber convened for a 46th time on 31 October under the leadership of house speaker Nabih Berri.

[70] The second round of voting had to be repeated three times before ballots were read out loud after the parliament's secretariat counted 128 envelopes instead of 127, which is the number of MPs who participated in the presidential election.

Initially triggered in response to a rise in gas and tobacco prices as well as a new tax on messaging applications,[80] the demonstrations quickly turned into a revolution against the stagnation of the economy, cabinet failure, unemployment, Lebanon's sectarian and hereditary political system, corruption and the government's inability to provide essential services such as water, electricity and sanitation, involving hundreds of thousands of people from every region and sect of the country.

Protesters began appearing in the early morning of 13 November near the heavily fortified Baabda Presidential Palace to express dissatisfaction with President Aoun's speech a few hours earlier and picked up in pace as the day progressed.

[87][88] A new Lebanese cabinet led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab was formed in Lebanon on 21 January 2020,[89][90][91] after agreement was reached by the heads of the involved political parties after nearly three months.

On 6 March 2021, while Saad Hariri has still not managed to form a government, Diab denounces the situation of political and economic crisis and threatens to stop expediting current affairs by leaving office immediately.

[102] According to Hariri, President Aoun presented him with a line-up granting his team a third of all cabinet seats, which would enable them to have veto power over decision making in the Lebanese government.

[103] Hariri was said to have been criticized by Aoun for disclosing his proposed government with the media, because the distribution of the ministries was unjust which was his reason for not agreeing to the line-up, according to Al Jazeera.

[106][107] On 4 August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Port of Beirut in the capital city of Lebanon exploded, causing at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and US$15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless.

A cargo of 2,750 tonnes of the substance (equivalent to around 1.1 kilotons of TNT) had been stored in a warehouse without proper safety measures for the previous six years after having been confiscated by the Lebanese authorities from the abandoned ship MV Rhosus.