Special to WorldTribune.com

Gen. Khalifa Haftar, a former officer involved in a coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in 1969, has been appointed Libya’s new army chief a week after his nomination by the elected parliament.

Hafter is also a former long-time resident of Vienna, Virginia, giving rise to rumors he had ties with the CIA. He returned to Libya in March 2011 and joined the fighting before and after the fall of Gadhafi.

Haftar has focused attacks on Islamist fighters including Islamic State of Iraq and Levant thought to have been aligned with an attack last week that was seen as a move to control Libya’s energy resources.

The attack on the Ghani oil field killed eight Libyan guards. An AP report quoted military spokesman Ahmed Mesmari as saying they were beheaded in front of another security official, who then suffered a heart attack.

After the elections in June and the capture of Tripoli by Islamist militias, the internationally recognised authorities allied themselves with Haftar and last month asked him and more than 100 other former officers to return to active duty.

Critics of Haftar, including the jihadist Fajr Libya militia alliance dismiss him as a pro-Western dictator.

Haftar’s supporters has rallied to his campaign to liberate Libya from Islamists who have terrorized the population since the 2011 uprising that defeated and killed former dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

“Khalifa Belgacem Haftar, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, took the oath before the parliament,” spokesman Faraj Abu Hachem told AFP.

Haftar, 72, was also promoted from the rank of lieutenant general to general, Abu Hachem added, the highest rank currently for any officer in Libya.

  Benghazi, Former Gadhafi loyalist, Gadhafi, Libya, named top general in Libya, Va, Vienna, Virginia resident, WorldTribune.com