BEIRUT (Reuters) - General Joseph Aoun, the Lebanese army commander who was elected president on Thursday, kept his military on the sidelines of a recent war between Israel and armed group Hezbollah, ordering it to prioritise civil peace even as troops were killed.

Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.

Lebanon’s parliament convened Thursday to make yet another effort to elect a president, filling a vacuum that's lasted for more than two years. A first round of voting showed Lebanese army commander Joseph Aoun as the frontrunner,

Lebanese MPs are expected to elect a president on Thursday after more than two years of deadlock, in a much-needed step to help lift the war-battered country out of financial crisis. While 12 attempts have failed to choose a successor to former President Michel Aoun,

Lebanon’s fractious parliament will try on Thursday to do something it has failed at a dozen times over the past two years: elect a president. How it works: In Lebanon, parliament chooses the president.

Lebanese political heavyweights held talks Wednesday as parliament prepares to elect a president, with foreign powers pressuring for consensus a day ahead of the vote. Lebanon's powerful parliament speaker and Hezbollah ally,