Khalifa Haftar

Field Marshal
Khalifa Haftar
خليفة حفتر
Haftar in 2023
Supreme Commander of the Libyan National Army
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 March 2015
PresidentAguila Saleh Issa (acting)
Mohamed al-Menfi
Prime MinisterAbdullah al-Thani
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh[a]
Personal details
Born
Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar

(1943-11-07) 7 November 1943 (age 81)
Ajdabiya, Libya[1][b]
CitizenshipLibya
United States
Children6, including Saddam
AwardsRed diploma (high honours) – M.V. Frunze Military Academy
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Branch/service Libyan National Army
Years of service1966–1987; 2011–present
Rank Field Marshal[2]
CommandsLibyan National Army
Battles

Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Omar Haftar[3] (Arabic: خليفة بالقاسم عمر حفتر, romanized: Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA).[4] On 2 March 2015, he was appointed commander of the Armed forces loyal to the elected legislative body, the Libyan House of Representatives.[5]

Haftar was born in the Libyan city of Al-Bayda. He served in the Libyan Army under Muammar Gaddafi, and took part in the coup that brought Gaddafi to power in 1969. He took part in the Libyan contingent against Israel in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.[6] In 1987, he became a prisoner of war during the war against Chad after being lured into a trap and captured, which was then a major embarrassment for Gaddafi and represented a major blow to Gaddafi's ambitions in Chad. While being held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Gaddafi. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades living in the U.S. in Langley, Virginia, and gained U.S. citizenship.[7][8] In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia in Libya, of crimes against the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, and sentenced to death.

Haftar held a senior position in the forces which overthrew Gaddafi in 2011, during the First Libyan Civil War. In 2014, he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC but then developed into the Second Libyan Civil War. In 2017, Ramzi al-Shaeri, Vice-president of the Derna city council and lawyers Ryan Goodman and Alex Whiting accused Haftar of the war crime of ordering the killing of prisoners of war during the recapture of Derna.[9][10] Haftar has been described as "Libya's most potent warlord", having fought "with and against nearly every significant faction" in Libya's conflicts, as having a "reputation for unrivalled military experience"[11][12] and as governing "with an iron fist".[13]

Although Haftar is reportedly an anti-Islamist,[14][15][16][17] his allies include the Salafi Madkhali militias for geopolitical purposes.[18]

In November 2021, Khalifa Haftar announced his candidacy for the presidential election in December 2021 before it was postponed.[19]

Besides his native Arabic, Haftar also speaks English, Italian and Russian, and is conversational in French.[20] He is a dual Libyan-US citizen.[21][9] He is expected to renounce his US citizenship prior to the next Libyan election.[22]


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ Cremonesi, Lorenzo (1 April 2017). "General Haftar: "Italy Has Taken the Wrong Side in Libya"". Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  2. ^ "Tobruk's HoR promotes Khalifa Haftar to a Marshal following capture of oil ports". Libyan Express. 15 September 2016. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  3. ^ "حفتر والدبيبة والنايض أبرزهم.. قبول أوراق 73 مرشحا بانتخابات الرئاسة الليبية". youm7 (in Arabic). 24 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  4. ^ Daragahi, Borzou (22 January 2020). "How this Libyan warlord's quest for power is quashing his country's hopes for peace". The Independent. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  5. ^ Al-Warfalli, Ayman (2 March 2015). "Libya's Haftar appointed army chief for recognized government". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference ft-20140523 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Haftar_US_Libyan_citizen was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Chorin, Ethan (27 May 2014). "The New Danger in Benghazi". New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference guardian-20170925 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference nw-20181113 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Anderson, Jon Lee (23 February 2015). "The Unravelling: Libya's New Strongman". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 15 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Fighting Islamic State in Libya". The Economist. 14 May 2016. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fr24_SalameHaftar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Sanchez, Raf (12 April 2018). "Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar 'in a coma in Paris hospital'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  15. ^ Spencer, Richard; Trew, Bel (9 May 2018). "Strongman Khalifa Haftar moves in on Libya jihadists". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  16. ^ "Libya names anti-Islamist General Haftar as army chief". BBC News. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Anti-Islamist general named Libya army chief". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 2 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference MEE_LNA_composition was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Saif Al Islam Qaddafi reinstated as Libyan presidential candidate". The National. 2 December 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  20. ^ Stavridis, James (13 April 2019). "Libya's New Warlord Needs to Make Peace". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  21. ^ Hincks, Joseph (9 April 2019). "Libya Is on the Brink of Civil War and a U.S. Citizen Is Responsible. Here's What to Know". Time. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  22. ^ "Will Haftar's Heir Be an Ally of the Russians or the Americans?". The Washington Institute. Retrieved 10 February 2023.