Zina Akar, the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister in the Lebanese caretaker government, created a new Twitter account on Friday after failing to recover her previous account.
The Russian news agency Sputnik reported that Akar announced in a tweet from her new official Twitter account about the switch from her main account, which had been suspended for unknown reasons. In her tweet, the Defense Minister stated: "We inform you that the account of the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister of the caretaker government, Zina Akar, on Twitter has been changed due to the inability to recover the main account that was suspended by Twitter management for reasons we do not know. Therefore, we kindly ask you to follow the new account ZeinaAkar2@."
It is worth noting that the media office of the Deputy Prime Minister and National Defense Minister Zina Akar previously announced that after Akar was appointed as Minister, several fake accounts were created in her name on social media.
On January 23, 2020, Zina Akar was appointed Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister, making her the first woman to hold the defense portfolio in Lebanon and the Arab world. She belongs to the Orthodox Christian sect and was nominated by the "Lebanon Forces" parliamentary bloc led by National Liberal Movement head Gibran Bassil.
It should be noted that the Lebanese Minister of Defense does not have authority over the Lebanese army, which is under the command of the President of the Republic according to the National Defense Law, while the minister has authority over the institutions under the ministry. However, the Lebanese Minister of Defense is a member of the Supreme Defense Council, although they do not hold a membership in the military council but select a representative after consulting with the army commander.
Additionally, the Minister of Defense in Lebanon proposes a name to take over the leadership of the army, which is appointed by a decree issued by the government. The Lebanese Defense Minister holds a bachelor's degree in Social Sciences with a focus on Marketing and Administration from the Lebanese American University. She is the founder and director of the "Social and Cultural Development Association" affiliated with the Lebanese University. She is married to Jawad Akar, a well-known businessman and General Manager of "International Information," one of the leading polling companies in Lebanon.
