David Hale to be next US ambassador to Lebanon

The administration of President Barack Obama will nominate David Hale, who is currently the United States Special Envoy for Middle East Peace as Washington’s ambassador to Lebanon at the end of the term of the current Ambassador Maura Connelly, Al Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Hale who replaced George J. Mitchell in his current position in 2011 , served as the United States Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan since 2005, Deputy Chief of Mission in Amman since July 2003 and as Chargé d’affaires since July 2004. Previously he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, and Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State.

Hale served in Lebanon when David Michael Satterfield was the US ambassador (1998 – 2001) . He is considered one of the most prominent backers of the Lebanese constitutional institutions, according to the al Hayat report

Hale joined the Foreign Service in 1984 and studied Arabic at the Foreign Service Institute’s Field School in Tunisia. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a permanent resident of Princeton, New Jersey.