Libyan General Promises War on Jihadists, Arrest of Muslim Brotherhood Leaders

Khalifa Hifter

“We pledge not to abandon this mission until Libya is purged of terrorists.”

That’s the kind of quote you expect to hear from the President of the United States. And you might have before 2008. But instead that’s a quote from the man who might end up running Libya.

Renegade ex-general Khalifa Haftar said Saturday the Libyan people have given him a “mandate” to crush jihadist militants in the country, a day after thousands rallied in his support in Benghazi and Tripoli.
Haftar’s campaign has won growing support amid frustration at the lawlessness in Libya three years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

“We have accepted the mandate of the people,” Haftar said in a statement.

“The (people) have given their instructions … We pledge not to abandon this mission until Libya is purged of terrorists and extremists and all those who back them,” he added.

The statement was released by Haftar’s self-declared “supreme military council” in the Benina region near the eastern city of Benghazi, where the rogue general launched his campaign this month.

Thousands of demonstrators rallied in support of Haftar on Friday in the capital Tripoli and in Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi and hotbed of an Islamist militancy since.

The demonstrations were some of the largest seen in Libya since Gaddafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

On Wednesday, Haftar warned that Libya has become a “terrorist hub” and called for the formation of an emergency cabinet and legislative elections to be held.

I wrote that Hifter (at some point the spelling will be normalized) was probably backed by Egypt. The signals have gotten a lot stronger.

Promising to exercise security cooperation with Egypt, Libya’s General Khalifa Haftar asserted his country’s right to build a strong army and support its neighbours

Haftar, who leads what he calls the “National Army” that began to use force against Libya’s Islamist militants early last week, promised to hand over to Egypt leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood currently based in Libya.

The general praised the reaction of Egypt’s ex-military chief and presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi towards the 30 June protests which led to the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

It’s not clear if he’s talking about Egyptian members of the Brotherhood in Libya, or the Libyan members, some of whom are trying to run the country, but either way it’s bad news for the Brotherhood.

The Egyptian foreign ministry on Monday announced its rejection of foreign intervention in Libya, calling on the neighbouring country’s domestic parties to “end divisions and cease bloodshed.”

Cairo condemned “attempts from inside and outside” Libya to push Egypt into the conflict and regarded the situation as an internal Libyan matter.

Internal Libyan matter is diplomatic code for, we support the people who are most likely to be the targets of foreign intervention. In this case that’s General Hifter.

“He is kind of a ‘fumpy’ guy,” said one of the former US officials. “They tend to underestimate him. He’s a pretty tough old guy and he could win, whatever winning in Libya means.”

Hifter is duplicating what Al-Sisi did, rebuilding a Libyan military command that would run the country.

Heftar, like Sisi, is said to have the enthusiastic backing of the fiercely anti-Islamist United Arab Emirates, as does his ally, the former prime minister Mahmoud Jibril. Heftar even created a Supreme Council of the Armed Forces – the same name used by the Egyptian military.

Heftar’s momentum could change that. His Operation Karama (“dignity”) has blazed across Libya with army units, tribes and the largest non-Islamist party, the National Forces Alliance, all declaring their allegiance.

Attitudes on Capitol Hill may change if Heftar succeeds in defeating Libya’s Islamists. The US will be monitoring events closely – though for the moment its embassy in Tripoli is working to keep channels open to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Predictably enough. If Hifter has any US backing, it comes from outside the administration and its diplomats. The UAE may be backing him, but the Saudis seem to be opposed. Their media outlets are running attacks against him.

“I do not seek power,” Mr Haftar said in an interview published on Tuesday by Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper. “However . . . if the people want this through the ballot boxes, if the masses ask for me, I will not hesitate in responding to their request.”

Even critics say the sombre, unsmiling Mr Haftar, a 71-year-old member of the respected eastern Libyan Farjani clan (useful at a time when tribal politics are coming to the fore), is considered a hard- headed, skilful commander. He studied war in Russia and Egypt, and took part in Gaddafi’s 1969 coup against the monarchy. Four years later, he was one of the first to enter Israeli-occupied Sinai with Egyptian troops.

Supporters believe this descendant of warriors – his father fought bravely against Italian occupiers in the early 1920s – may have what it takes to stamp out the militias wreaking havoc. “He’s probably the most qualified general to lead and unite the armed forces,” says one who interviewed Mr Haftar during his failed bid to become defence minister in 2012. “He has experience in the Libyan military. He knows it inside and out,” continues the Libyan, who does not wish to be named.

In televised appearances, he has a habit of conflating the Islamist militias with members of parliament and the government who belong to the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood, and with al-Qaeda.

“Libya has become, according to the reports of international organisations, a state sponsoring terrorism, and a den for the terrorists who controlled the joints of the state and dominated its revenues and fortunes and decision-making powers,” Mr Haftar said in an appearance on Wednesday.

Maybe he knows something that the Western media doesn’t. Or refuses to know.

  • mollysdad

    Why do I have the words “Heil Hifter!” in my head?

    • republicc

      Because in Nostradamus, the name Hifter is usually interpreted to mean Hitler.

  • Drakken

    Now just where did the good General get all those western contractors from? And why are those Russian “civilians” coming into Libya by the boatload with a lot of shiny new toys?

  • USARetired

    Sounds better then Obozo supporting the wrong side, our enemy!

  • JackSpratt

    In the processI hope he arrest’s Barry, our muslim brotherhood terrorist.

  • pete

    bet HE’S not on berrie’s :”Merry Nackbar” list

  • virgile

    Finally a strong and experienced man appears in Libya. Sooner or later the USA will support him. Besided the UAE and Saudi Arabia, he will soon get the support of Egypt , Algeria and even Syria and Iran who are fighting the same scourge.

  • I_M_Forman

    Hope he succeeds in his endeavor. Sounds like a tough old guy and very capable of doing what he said. Too bad our government doesn’t know what to do here. Come to think of it, they’re not too good at knowing what to do anywhere. The public don’t want presidents; they want celebrities than really accomplish nothing other than making the U.S. look like a joke. Putin never would have spoke the way he did about Obama (“Who is he to criticize? Seriously?”) to George W Bush. That is a fact. The president of Afghanistan even refused to meet our White House resident celebrity at the airport on an Obama surprise trip to Afghanistan. Then again what do you expect from a first lady that moaned and groaned about having to go to a 9-11 event to be overheard saying that she can’t believe that they were all having to stand around there for a flag (An American flag). She had no problem showing a ton of enthusiasm for waving around Communist Chinese flags. We are royally screwed.

  • AlgorithmicAnalyst

    Hope he is a strong enough leader to pull it off.