May 2014–July 2017
For three years, Haftar's LNA fought a grinding urban campaign to retake Libya's second city from a coalition of Islamist militias including Ansar al-Sharia and affiliated groups. The battle destroyed entire districts of Benghazi, once a prosperous Mediterranean city, reduced historic neighborhoods to rubble, and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians. When Haftar finally declared victory in July 2017, he emerged as the dominant military figure in eastern Libya and the most credible challenger to the Tripoli-based government — but the human cost had been catastrophic.
Commanders