Khalifa Haftar

Khalifa Haftar, born on 7 November 1943 in Ajdabiya, is a Libyan military officer and politician who commands the Libyan National Army, the force of the Tobruk-based authorities in eastern Libya. He served in the Libyan Army under Muammar Gaddafi, took part in the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, fought in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and later served in the Chadian-Libyan war until Chadian forces captured him in April 1987. After his release around 1990 he lived for nearly two decades in the United States and gained US citizenship. He held a senior position among the forces that overthrew Gaddafi in 2011, launched a campaign against the General National Congress in 2014, and was made commander of the Libyan National Army by the House of Representatives on 2 March 2015. Since early 2017 he has been the de facto ruler of eastern Libya.