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Renegade general sworn in as Libya's army chief

Xinhua, March 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Libya's renegade general Khalifa Haftar was sworn in on Monday as the army chief of the war-torn country, according to parliamentary sources.

"Khalifa Belgacem Haftar took the legal oath before the parliament and will begin his duties from the moment," Faraj Abu Hashim, a lawmaker, told Xinhua.

The internationally recognized House of Representatives also promoted Haftar to lieutenant general, the lawmaker added.

Haftar was born in 1943 and studied in the Military Academy in Benghazi. Although he had been a trusted general under Muammar Gaddafi, he split with him after the Libyan-Chadian war, also known as Toyota War, started in 1978. He left for the United States and resided there until 2011.

He returned to Libya right after an anti-Gaddafi movement broke out and played a major role in toppling the strongman.

Haftar's secular-leaning militias, now incorporated into the Libyan national army, are seen as the backbone of Libya's internationally recognized government and parliament, now operating in Tobruk, a port city in northeast Libya, and are now waging a war on Libya's Islamist armed groups since last May.

In the eastern part of the country, Hafter has amassed popular support by battling "terrorists" and extremist groups. In the west, his fighters are confronting the local Islamist alliance Libya Dawn, who occupied the capital city of Tripoli and established a rival government and parliament.

Libya has witnessed a drastic escalation of violence after the 2011 turmoil which toppled Gaddafi. The Islamist militants and pro-secular militia have been vying for cities and towns for months, and fighting still rages near Tripoli, Benghazi and Gharyan. Endit