Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who is set to quit when his mandate ends at midnight Friday, is a former army chief considered by his foes in the Western-backed government as a puppet of Syria.

Backed by Damascus and its Lebanese allies, mainly the Hezbollah, Lahoud, 71, has resisted a barrage of calls for his resignation and been snubbed for the past two years by most Western states.

His spokesman said Lahoud would stand down by midnight after parliament again delayed a vote on choosing his successor despite Friday’s deadline.

But he could leave with a bang, having floated the idea of appointing an interim militiary government in the absence of an elected successor, or declaring a state of emergency.

Known for a perennial smile and year-round suntan, which triggers critics to claim that he spends most of his time at the beach, Lahoud has been head of state for nine years.

He was elected president in 1998 for six years but at the end of his mandate, Lebanon’s then powerbroker Syria pushed through parliament a controversial constitutional amendment extending his term for three more years.

Lahoud’s own Christian Maronite church strongly opposed his re-election and the anti-Syrian ruling majority and Western officials have since boycotted the head of state.

Born on January 12, 1936, Lahoud hails from the mountain town of Baabdat, east of Beirut, and comes from a family that has produced government ministers, MPs, military men and magistrates. Lahoud entered the political arena after a long military career.

He enrolled in military school in 1956 and became a naval officer three years later. He earned a maritime engineering degree from Britain and completed military training in the United States.

Lahoud was promoted to navy commander in the 1970s and held several senior positions at the defence ministry before becoming commander-in-chief of the army in November 1989, at the height of the 1975-1990 civil war,

His troops took part in the October 1990 Syrian-led military offensive that ended the rebellion of then-prime minister General Michel Aoun, who was later forced into exile in France.

Ironically, the two men have for the past year been in the same opposition camp.

After the end of the civil war, Lahoud succeeded in reuniting and rebuilding the Lebanese army, which had splintered into feuding Christian and Muslim factions.

He gave cautious backing for Hezbollah’s fight against Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon that led to a unilateral Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 during his first mandate.

However, he took no steps to assert Lebanese military control over the south until the Israeli-Hezbollah war of July-August 2006 that forced Hezbollah to end its military presence on the borders with the Jewish state.

When parliament first elected Lahoud, he promised to establish a state of law and to put an end to endemic corruption in public life.

But he was unsuccessful, hampered by the cronyism that lies at the root of Lebanese society.

Lahoud has steadfastly refused to recognise the legitimacy of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora’s government following the November resignation of six pro-Syrian ministers.

Lebanon has also been in political limbo since the February 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, which forced Syria to end its 29-year military presence in the country.

Four top Lebanese generals close to Lahoud have already been jailed under the international investigation into Hariri’s murder in which senior Syrian officials have been implicated. Syria denies any links with the assassination.

Lahoud is married to an Armenian and the couple have three children. Eldest son Emile Emile Lahoud was a member of parliament between 2000 and 2005. -AFP