Last week, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock became the latest in a long line of Western diplomats dispatched to Beirut, in an attempt to wrestle with the Rubik’s Cube that is Lebanese politics. And like many before her, she wasn’t able to align the squares either.

“Lebanon is on the brink of collapse,” Baerbock intoned on arrival, underlining that the war between Israel and Hezbollah could “be fatal for the most religiously diverse society of all states in the Middle East.”

Indeed, it could be — and the Lebanese know that better than anyone.

However, one of their biggest exasperations — aside from the ongoing ground invasion in the south, and Hezbollah’s role in bringing yet another war crashing down on their heads — is Western policymakers (and Israel) trying to strong-arm them into hasty political reform.

As it stands, such a reform process could only start with the appointment of a president — a position that’s been vacant for more than two years because of sectarian political wrangling and Hezbollah vetoes.

A president committed to restoring state authority could set Lebanon on a new course to fundamentally change and repair its political system, which has left sectarian-based political parties — especially the Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah — stronger than the country’s hollowed out state institutions.

In Western policy circles, the favored candidate to manage such a shift is General Joseph Aoun — a Maronite Catholic who has been commander-in-chief of the 80,000-strong Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) since 2017. The LAF is seen as the country’s most representative and capable national institution, and is highly respected across Lebanon’s internal fault lines.

Moreover, the no-nonsense Aoun has much to recommend him. A career officer, he steadily rose up the ranks since joining the army in 1983 and has rigorously maintained the LAF’s political neutrality. He also led the Dawn of the Hills campaign against the Islamic State in 2017, preventing jihadist spillover into Lebanon from the civil war raging in neighboring Syria.