Libya on Edge as Renegade General Orders Troops toward Tripoli

The Western-recognized government of Libya is on alert as Khalifa Haftar, a general who split off from the Libyan military with renegade forces after Muammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011, gave marching orders to his loyalists and sent them toward the capital city of Tripoli, where they are approaching from the south and the west. Haftar has been based in the eastern city of Benghazi, where he has waged a power struggle over the country’s oil fields and consistently threatened the government, saying he would one day take over the entire country. This week’s move on Tripoli caught the world by surprise, and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is now in Tripoli as part of an effort to defuse the situation, and it was reported that he planned to meet with Haftar on Friday. The US, UK, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates have all expressed concern about the situation. Most of the world supports the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj.