...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 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 a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...’s forces announced Monday their "full control" of Libya’s oil crescent after driving out a rival militia, as authorities said normal exports were set to resume.
"Mopping up operations for enemy holdouts" have been completed, said Khalifa al-Abidi, front man for Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army.
Military commander General Ahmed Salem, in a video posted by the LNA, said the fields and oil installations in eastern Libya were back under the force’s "full control".
The LNA already announced last Thursday that it had recaptured two key oil ports, a week after they were seized by gangs led by militia leader Ibrahim Jadhran, although military operations in the area were unfinished.
On Sunday, a delegation from the National Oil Corporation, which said the violence had slashed oil production by almost half and cost billions of dollars in losses, inspected the Ras Lanuf oil terminal.
"Specialists are currently determining when operations may resume and will update the Libyan people and market in due course," the NOC said in a statement.
"Despite the severity of the fire damage to storage tanks 2 and 12, tanks 5 and 6 were saved thanks to the exemplary work of personnel on site."
Medics have said 16 LNA members were killed in festivities, but the number of dead on the other side was unknown.