Profile of President Michel Sleiman
On Sunday, May 25, 2008, Michel Sleiman was elected president of the Lebanese Republic. Sleiman is the first president to come into office since the 2005 Cedar Revolution and subsequent Syrian withdrawal from the country.
Sleiman was born on November 21, 1948 in the town of Amchit, in northern Lebanon. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1970, and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in political and administrative sciences from Lebanese University. He worked his way up through the ranks of the army in the 1970s, returning to the Military Academy in 1976 to teach at the Non-Commissioned Officers’ School.
On December 21, 1998, he became the commander of the Lebanese army, where he was regarded as a strong leader. Notably, in the wake of the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005, he refrained from deploying the army against either side of the standoff between the anti-Syrian majority and pro-Syrian opposition.
However, some have had concerns that Sleiman’s neutrality may go too far, particularly after he refrained from mobilizing the army to control clashes that ravaged western Beirut and other parts of Lebanon in May 2008.
In the summer of 2007, under Sleiman’s command, the Lebanese army fought a 15-week battle in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp against Fatah al-Islam, eventually clearing the militants from the camp. The army’s perseverance, dedication and sacrifices in the North led to a surge in popular support for the army.
Sleiman is married to Wafaa Sleiman, and he has three adult children.
Military career
– December 4, 1990 to August 24, 199, he served as chief of the Army Intelligence Branch for Mount Lebanon.
– On August 25, 1991, he took up the post of the army staff secretary-general and held that position until June 6, 1993.
– He became the commander of the 11th infantry brigade on June 10, 1993 and served in that position until January 15, 1996 – a period during which Lebanon witnessed violent confrontations with Israel in both the western Bekaa and the South.
– On January 15, 1996 he was appointed commander of the 6th infantry brigade and remained in this post until December 21, 1998.
– On December 21, 1998, he was nominated army commander. He led the Army Command for nearly a decade.
– On May 25, 2008, Sleiman was elected president of Lebanon.
Decorations, medals, awards and honors
-National Order of the Cedar, knight grade and grand cordon grade
-Lebanese Order of Merit, 3rd, 2nd and 1st grades
-Decoration of Military Pride, silver grade
-Medal of War
– Decoration of Military Valor, silver grade
– Decoration of the National-Unity
– Decoration of the Dawn of the South
– Syrian Order of Merit, Grade of Excellence
– Certificate of Honor of the Arab Union
– Decoration of Arab Union for Military Sports, 2nd degree
– Military Medal
– Internal Security forces’ Medal
– General Security Medal
– State security Medal
– Commemorative Medal of Conferences for the year 2002.
– Citations of the Armed Forces Commander (4 times)
– Felicitations of the Armed Forces Commander (18 times)
– Felicitations of the Brigade Commander (once)
Military training courses
– A training course in Belgium from January 7, 1971 to July 4, 1971.
– A training in Staff techniques in France from February 9, 1981 to July 17, 1981.
– A staff training course at the Command and Staff College starting June 1988 to September 1988.
– An International Defense Management course in the United States from June 22,1995 to July 27, 1995.