Is General Haftar the new rais?

Haftar’s political approach, his hold over the masses and his annihilation of all opposition is reminiscent of Colonel Gaddafi’s reign.

Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar is currently Libya’s most significant and polarising personality. His name elicits hyperbole wherever it is raised, and he remains a perplexing and stubborn variable in the international community’s attempts to orchestrate political unification. A military figure who has been around for long enough to have taken part in Muammar Gaddafi’s own coup in 1969, Haftar returned to the Libyan popular consciousness somewhat farcically in 2014 with a Valentine’s Day coup which he announced on TV but never bothered to carry out.

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