Lebanon's parliament elected army chief Joseph Aoun head of state on Thursday, filling the vacant presidency with a general who has U.S. support and showing the weakened sway of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after its devastating war with Israel.

In a speech to the chamber, Aoun, 60, vowed to work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, drawing loud applause as lawmakers from Hezbollah -- which runs its own military forces -- sat still, Reuters reported.

He promised to rebuild south Lebanon and other parts of the country he said had been destroyed by Israel, and also to prevent Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which was mired in deep economic and political crises even before the latest conflict. "Today, a new phase in the history of Lebanon begins," he said.

His election reflected shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war, and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad toppled in December.

It also indicated a revival of Saudi influence in a country where Riyadh's role was eclipsed by Iran and Hezbollah long ago.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar congratulated Lebanon, saying on X he hoped Aoun's election would contribute towards stability and good neighbourly relations.

U.S. ambassador Lisa Johnson, attending the session, told Reuters she was "very happy" with Aoun's election.

The presidency, reserved for a Maronite Christian in Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, has been vacant since Michel Aoun's term ended in October 2022, with deeply divided factions unable to agree on a candidate able to win enough votes in the 128-seat parliament.

Joseph Aoun fell short of the 86 votes needed in a first round vote, but crossed the threshold with 99 votes in a second round, after lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shi'ite ally the Amal Movement backed him.

Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad said that by delaying their vote for Aoun, the group had "sent a message that we are the guardians of national consensus".

Momentum built behind Aoun on Wednesday as Hezbollah's long preferred candidate, Suleiman Frangieh, withdrew and declared support for the army commander, and as French and Saudi envoys shuttled around Beirut, urging his election in meetings with politicians, three Lebanese political sources said.

A source close to the Saudi royal court said French, Saudi, and U.S. envoys had told Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally, that international financial assistance - including from Saudi Arabia - hinged on Aoun's election.

"There is a very clear message from the international community that they are ready to support Lebanon, but that needs a president, a government," Michel Mouawad, a Christian lawmaker opposed to Hezbollah who voted for Aoun, told Reuters.

"We did get a message from Saudi of support," he added.

The Saudi king and crown prince congratulated Aoun.

FRANCE URGES FORMATION OF STRONG GOVERNMENT

His election is a first step towards reviving government institutions in a country which has had neither a head of state nor a fully empowered cabinet since Aoun left office.

Lebanon, its economy still reeling from a financial collapse in 2019, is in dire need of aid to rebuild from the war, which the World Bank estimates cost the country $8.5 billion.

Much of the damage is in majority Shi'ite areas where Hezbollah draws support. Hezbollah has urged Arab and international support for Lebanon.

Lebanon's system of government now requires Aoun to convene consultations with lawmakers to nominate a Sunni Muslim prime minister to form a new cabinet, a process that can often be protracted as factions barter over ministerial portfolios.

France said the election opened a new page for Lebanon.

"This election must now be followed by the appointment of a strong government" capable of "carrying out the reforms necessary for Lebanon's economic recovery, stability, security and sovereignty," French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine said.

Lebanon's international bonds, which have been in default since 2020, rallied after Aoun's victory was announced.

Aoun has played a key role in shoring up a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel which was brokered by Washington and Paris in November. The terms require the Lebanese army to deploy into south Lebanon as Israeli troops and Hezbollah withdraw forces.

Opponents of his candidacy said his election was the result of foreign pressure. Lawmaker Gebran Bassil, leader of one of the biggest Christian factions, told the session that many lawmakers had received "instructions from abroad".

But Melhem Riachi, a Christian lawmaker who voted for Aoun, said the election marked the end of the previous era with "an Iranian face". "This is the era of Lebanon's harmony with the international community," he said.

More than 400 people in Tibet trapped by a deadly earthquake in the foothills of the Himalayas have been rescued, Chinese officials said on Wednesday, but an unknown number remained unaccounted for in severe cold weather.

The epicentre of Tuesday's magnitude 6.8 quake, one of the region's most powerful tremors in recent years, was located in Tingri in China's Tibet, about 80 km north of Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain. It also shook buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.

Reuters reported that 24 hours after the temblor struck, those trapped under rubble would have endured a night in sub-zero temperatures, adding to the pressure on rescuers looking for survivors in an area the size of Cambodia.

Temperatures in the high-altitude region dropped as low as minus 18 degrees Celsius overnight.

People trapped or those without shelter are at risk of rapid hypothermia and may only be able to live for five to 10 hours even if uninjured, experts say.

At least 126 people were known to have been killed and 188 injured on the Tibetan side, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

No deaths have been reported in Nepal or elsewhere.

Chinese authorities have yet to announce how many people are still missing.

In Nepal, an official told Reuters the quake destroyed a school building in a village near Mount Everest, which straddles the Nepali-Tibetan border, but no one was inside at the time.

Jost Kobusch, a German climber, said he was just above the Everest base camp on the Nepali side when the quake struck.

"I'm climbing Everest in the winter by myself and...looks like basically I'm the only mountaineer there, in the base camp there's nobody"

His tent shook violently and he said he saw several avalanches crash down, although he was unscathed.

"I'm climbing Everest in the winter by myself and...looks like basically I'm the only mountaineer there, in the base camp there's nobody," he told Reuters in a video call.

His expedition organising company, Satori Adventure, said Kobusch had left the base camp and was descending to Namche Bazaar on Wednesday on the way to Kathmandu.

An initial survey showed 3,609 homes had been destroyed in Tibet's Shigatse region, home to 800,000 people, state media reported late on Tuesday, citing local officials.

Over 1,800 emergency rescue personnel and 1,600 soldiers had been dispatched to the region.

More than 500 aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4 had followed the quake as of 8 a.m. on Wednesday, the China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

In 2008, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan's Chengdu, claiming the lives of at least 70,000 people, the deadliest quake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan quake that killed at least 242,000 people.

A magnitude 6.8 earthquake, rocked the northern foothills of the Himalayas near one of Tibet's holiest cities on Tuesday, Chinese authorities said, killing at least 53 people and shaking buildings in neighbouring Nepal, Bhutan and India.

The quake hit at 9:05 a.m. Tibet time, with its epicentre located in Tingri, a rural Chinese county known as the northern gateway to the Everest region, at a depth of 10 km, according to the China Earthquake Networks Centre.

The U.S. Geological Service put the quake's magnitude at 7.1.

At least 53 people had been killed and 62 injured on the Tibetan side, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Southwestern parts of China, Nepal and northern India are frequently hit by earthquakes caused by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.

A magnitude 7.8 tremor struck near Kathmandu in 2015, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands in Nepal's worst ever earthquake.

Among the dead were at least 18 people killed at the Mount Everest base camp when it was smashed by an avalanche.

Tuesday's epicentre was around 80 km north of Everest, the world's highest mountain and a popular destination for climbers and trekkers.

Winter is not a popular season for climbers and hikers in Nepal, with a German climber the lone mountaineer with a permit to climb Mount Everest.

He had already left the base camp after failing to reach the summit, Lilathar Awasthi, a Department of Tourism official, said.

Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) said the tremors were felt in seven hill districts bordering Tibet.

"So far we have not received any information of any loss of life and property," NDRRMA spokesman Dizan Bhattarai told Reuters.

"We have mobilised police, security forces and local authorities to collect information," he said.

Many villages in the Nepalese border area, which are sparsely populated, are remote and can only be reached by foot.

The impact of the quake was felt across the Shigatse region of Tibet, home to 800,000 people. The region is administered by Shigatse city, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama, one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said all-out search and rescue efforts should be carried out to minimise casualties, properly resettle the affected people, and ensure a safe and warm winter.

Villages in Tingri, where the average elevation is around 4,000-5,000 metres, reported strong shaking during the quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 4.4.

Crumbled shop fronts could be seen in a video on social media showing the aftermath from the town of Lhatse, with debris spilling out onto the road.