On Thursday, November 25, 2021, the Permanent Military Court in Misurata issued a death sentence against retired Major General Khalifa Haftar following the case related to the bombing of the Air College in Misurata in 2019, during his attack on the capital, Tripoli, which resulted in the killing of a soldier from the forces of the Government of National Accord.

The ruling against Haftar and the leaders of his forces, according to the Military Prosecutor’s Office, permanently deprives them of their civil rights, as the court ordered their expulsion from military service.

Earlier on Thursday, the Military Prosecutor in Libya demanded the implementation of arrest warrants against Haftar, against the background of 5 cases and his violation of the military law.

Birth and upbringing

- November 7, 1943: He was born in the city of Ajdabiya, to the west of Benghazi, in the east of the country, and grew up there.

- Rumors have surfaced indicating that Haftar is of Tunisian Tataouine descent.

But others suggest that its roots go back to the Qadhadhfa tribe, from which the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi descended.

1957: He joined the local Al-Huda School, then moved to the city of Derna to complete his secondary education between 1961 and 1964.

September 16, 1964: Joined the Benghazi Military University Academy (also known as the Royal Military College of Benghazi) and graduated in 1966.

He lived between military colleges in Tobruk and Benghazi to study, before moving to Iraq and then Russia.

The night of September 1, 1969: Haftar was charged with storming the US Howells base (which is currently called the Maitika base) in Tripoli, so that Haftar could control the base, and his name is mentioned among the military leaders who contributed with Muammar Gaddafi in the military coup that brought the latter to power.

He was appointed as a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, which emerged from this coup.

secular Nasserite tendencies

- Haftar was known for his secular Nasserite tendencies, like most of the group of free unionist officers formed by Gaddafi in 1964, which put an end to the rule of the late Idris al-Senussi (1951-1969) in Libya in early September 1969, which ended 18 years of the monarchy in the country and the start of the Colonel’s mass regime Gaddafi, who ruled the country for more than four consecutive decades until he called himself the "King of Kings of Africa".

After that, Haftar’s star emerged, following Gaddafi’s assumption of power, who was close to him and received many military courses, including: “Team Command”, in Russia, where he obtained the distinction of distinction, qualifying him to be within the leadership of the Libyan forces during the crossing of the Suez Canal (the war of October 1973), and at that time he was awarded the Egyptian Crossing Medal (star).

Haftar led the war that took place in the eighties of the last century between Libya and Chad due to the conflict over the border region of Aouzou between the two countries.

1980: Haftar participated among the leaders of the Libyan war in Chad.

1986: Haftar received the rank of colonel.

- March 22, 1987: Haftar was captured in the Battle of Wadi Al-Doum, along with 300 of his soldiers, after the French intervention in the war, and Gaddafi abandoned his army's support there, saying that "there are no forces in Chad."

Within his prison, Haftar began to take a distance from the Gaddafi regime, and led some endeavors with hundreds of his military companions inside Chad's prisons, which culminated in 1987 by joining the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which opposes the regime.

June 21, 1988: The establishment of the military wing of the National Front was announced and was named after the Libyan National Army.

- The Libyan National Army, led by Haftar, did not last long. After Idriss Deby came to power in Chad, this army was dismantled, and American forces managed to liberate it in an operation that remains a mystery to this day. Not only that, but Washington granted him political asylum.

1993: During his stay in the United States, Haftar was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and for participating in a coup attempt against Gaddafi and was sentenced to death.

His family and children

Haftar’s wife is an illiterate woman from the city of Ajdabiya, whom he married in the early eighties, with whom he had his eldest son Khaled and his daughter Asma, who later married one of her cousins ​​who has resided in Cairo since 2013.

In the early nineties, specifically in 1993, his wife gave birth to his second son, Saddam.

The following year, she gave birth to his second daughter.

1995: The Egyptian regime hosted the Haftar family.

Early 2000: Gaddafi gave the family a home in Cairo and a monthly salary of $15,000. There, his other daughters and youngest son Uqba were born, who is currently residing in a mansion owned by his father in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

Khaled Haftar graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Commerce in Cairo.

His daughters were kept out of the limelight.

While Khalifa Haftar's other son, Saddam, did not complete his studies.

2005: Gaddafi visited Haftar's family at their home in Cairo.

The conversation that took place between Gaddafi and his son Saddam, a recording of which was leaked, illustrates the nature of the good relationship between Gaddafi and Haftar, as Gaddafi repeatedly praised Haftar and considered him one of the most important pillars of his rule.

American citizenship

He spent nearly two decades in Langley, Virginia, in the United States, and there he obtained American citizenship.

- After the outbreak of the February 17, 2011 revolution, Haftar returned to Libya to join the National Liberation Army to participate in the military and political efforts aimed at overthrowing the regime.

- Haftar briefly assumed the leadership of the Liberation Army, which was founded by the revolutionaries, and after criticism of the performance of this army, which was formed mostly of volunteers and young men with no experience in military operations, the leadership of the army was assigned to the former Minister of the Interior, Abdel Fattah Younis al-Obeidi.

It was reported that Haftar had strong relations with some Western political and intelligence circles, especially the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which supported him, according to what Reuters quoted an American research center as saying.

- December 2011: Haftar spoke in an interview with the Libyan Al-Naba TV and called Gaddafi the "Saint", stressing that he had learned the Nasserist ideology on his hands, confirming that he was one of those close to him. In the same interview, Haftar defended The 1969 coup, describing it as a "real revolution".

 "Road Map" .. "Dignity of Libya"

- February 14, 2014: Haftar announced the control of his forces over military and vital sites in the country, and announced in a statement, “Freezing the work of the General National Congress (the interim parliament) and the government and the constitutional declaration issued in August 2011, adopting what he called a “road map.” for Libya's political future.

Haftar asserted at the time that what he had done was "not a coup nor a quest for military rule, but rather in line with the demands of the street that came out calling for the departure of the General Conference."

Quickly, the Libyan Prime Minister, Ali Zaidan, appeared in a televised speech, and denied the occurrence of any military coup on the ground, and said, "There is no coup or a return to the era of coups, and Libya will not return to restrictions."

- Zeidan issued his orders to the Ministry of Defense to take the necessary measures against Haftar, and the Libyan army also demanded the rebel general, whose whereabouts were not announced, to surrender himself to the military judiciary "without bloodshed."

May 16, 2014: Forces under Haftar's orders launched a military operation called "Libya's Dignity" against groups it described as "terrorist" in Benghazi, and the operation later moved to the capital, Tripoli, which resulted in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Haftar presented himself as the leader of the "national army" and the "savior" of Libya from the Islamist groups accused of "terrorism" and sowing chaos.

He stressed that he is not seeking to take power and that he is responding only to "the people's call."

- June 4, 2014: A suicide bomber blew up his car near Haftar's house east of Benghazi, killing 4 people and wounding at least 3 others, while Haftar himself was not hurt.

November 24, 2014: A Tripoli court issued an arrest warrant for Haftar after the warplanes of Operation Dignity forces attacked the Maitika International Airport in Tripoli, which caused it to close temporarily, and also caused damage to nearby homes.

Haftar became the official commander of the so-called Libyan National Army, appointed by the internationally recognized House of Representatives until March 2, 2015.

2016: Haftar's forces bombed an Islamist group known as the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council, which was behind the successful overthrow of ISIS in the city of Derna.

August 2016: Haftar refused the United Nations Security Council's support for the Government of National Accord and repeatedly stated that what the United States and its allies are doing "endangers the stability of Libya."

November 2016: Haftar made a second trip to Russia to meet with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. It was then rumored that Haftar was looking for weapons and support from Russia.

- December 26, 2016: Russian statements regarding the need for Haftar to have a role in leading Libya, and since then Russia has treated the wounded in the Libyan National Army, and has also worked to help the Tobruk-based government, and signed exclusive agreements allowing the Russian government to establish two bases Two additional military forces in eastern Libya.

July 2017: A video spread on the Internet showing Haftar's forces executing 20 ISIS fighters, and the United Nations called on the so-called Libyan National Army to investigate the extrajudicial executions of prisoners.

Early July 2017: In a televised address, he announced that his forces had finally taken full control of Benghazi, Libya's second largest city.

2017: The deputy head of the Derna city council, Ramzi Al-Shaeri, and lawyers Ryan Goodman and Alex White, accused Haftar of committing a war crime for ordering the killing of prisoners during the recapture of the city of Derna.

death rumor

November 5, 2017: The former commander of Operation Dignity and its former spokesman, Mohamed Hegazy, described Khalifa Haftar as "the main cause of the crisis that is paralyzing the country."


Hijazi described Haftar as a "corrupt leadership" and a "tyrant", and revealed what his army is doing in terms of killing, kidnapping, destruction and enforced disappearance.

April 13, 2018: Media reports reported the death of Haftar after his health deteriorated after suffering a stroke that required his transfer for treatment in France, but sources close to him denied these rumors and confirmed that he is still alive.

- April 25, 2018: It was confirmed that Haftar is alive, as he returned to Benghazi after receiving treatment in Paris.

Tripoli..a failed military campaign

April 4, 2019: Haftar called on his military forces to advance towards Tripoli in order to take control of it.

This was met with a reprimand from Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations Security Council.

April 7, 2019: The Air Force of the Field Marshal launched an air raid on the southern part of Tripoli.

June 2020: Haftar's forces retreated hundreds of kilometers from Tripoli and western Libyan cities, despite the generous support of several countries, including Russia, France and the UAE, which confirmed the failure of the campaign against the capital.


February 11, 2021: Haftar met with the President of the Presidential Council, Muhammad al-Manfi, and after the meeting, Haftar expressed "the armed forces' support for the peace process and the peaceful transfer of powers and support for the new Presidential Council and the national unity government produced by the political dialogue."

Haftar also expressed his support for a peace process to end a decade of chaos, after meeting the new head of the Presidential Council.

August 9, 2021: Haftar said that his forces would not be subject to any authority "in the name of the civilian or otherwise," announcing the issuance of decisions appointing new leaders for his forces and promoting a number of officers.

September 23, 2021: Haftar announces that he will step down from his military duties during the next three months, which many consider a first step towards running in the presidential elections scheduled for the end of December 2021.

Haftar announced the appointment of Abdel Razek Al-Nadori as his temporary successor.

October 10, 2021: "Israel Today" newspaper said that Haftar had contracted with an Israeli advertising company, to take over his electoral campaign for the Libyan presidency.

November 16, 2021: Haftar announced his candidacy for the presidential elections and officially submitted his candidacy papers to the Electoral Commission in Benghazi.