May 16, 2014
General Khalifa Haftar, a former Gaddafi commander who had spent years in CIA-connected exile in Virginia, launched 'Operation Dignity' with airstrikes on Islamist militia bases in Benghazi. His Libyan National Army refused to recognize the internationally recognized parliament, which he dismissed as Islamist-dominated. Two weeks later, his forces stormed the parliament building in Tripoli. Libya split into two governments: the UN-recognized GNA in Tripoli, backed by Islamist militias and Turkey, and Haftar's administration in the east, backed by Russia, UAE, and Egypt.
Commanders