A former CIA asset turns to Russia after US support for Islamists in Libya

He’s a grandfather and longtime resident of the Washington DC suburbs who now commands a powerful fighting force in northern Africa. He’s also a former CIA asset and anti-Islamist who holds power over eastern Libya.

Since he emerged as an important post-revolution figure in 2014, Western governments have struggled to define an effective policy to deal with Hifter, who has styled himself as an antidote to extremists while building his own power base and shunning the political process brokered by the United Nations.

Hifter is threatening many of the Western-backed initiatives in Libya and the establishment of a recognized political power by the UN. When the Libyan peace agreement was reached he responded "This unity government was a failure before the ink dried on the paper".

Hifter is correct in a sense, a large slice of the Libyan population see's the coalition unity govt as Islamist controlled. His popularity reached new heights in eastern Libya after he accused the U.N. and U.S. of wanting to turn Libya over to the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Even as militia forces, backed by U.S. air power, make progress against the Islamic State in central Libya, Hifter looms as a primary impediment to White House plans.

Hifter’s role in a much earlier, CIA-backed attempt to overthrow Gaddafi injects another element of complexity into American efforts to end Libya’s long crisis.

The planned coup attempt went nowhere, and U.S. officials were forced to rescue the Libyans in 1990, when a new Chadian leader prepared to throw them out. The men were flown to Nigeria and then Zaire, but it soon became clear that no African leader wanted them.

Six months later, a U.S. military aircraft flew about 350 Libyan rebels to the United States. Some of the rebels, including Hifter, continued to train with weapons in rural Virginia in anticipation of another coup attempt, according to Bechara Charbel, a journalist working for the pan-Arab newspaper Hayat who visited a training camp at the time.

Hifter lived in Northern Virginia and became U.S. citizen but remained active in Libyan dissident circles.

After the 2011 revolution, Hifter returned to northern Africa but failed to secure the backing of interim leaders to head rebel military operations against Gaddafi. He came back to Virginia “to enjoy my grandchildren,” he told New Yorker magazine.

In February 2014, the general released a video announcing a military coup. He railed against the inability of the then-central government to confront armed Islamist groups that had grown strong after the revolution.

At the State Department, officials scrambled to respond. “Everyone was like, ‘Is this a joke?’ ” one former State Department official said. “Because this guy had been living in Vienna forever,” referring to the suburb in Northern Virginia.

Soon afterward, with support from tribal and political factions, Hifter launched “Operation Dignity,” a bid to clear eastern Libya of militant groups including Ansar al-Sharia, which was blamed for the 2012 attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi. As Libya’s political crisis expanded, lawmakers in the eastern city of Tobruk named him their top military commander.

Hifter’s decisive actions also won him favor from some ordinary Libyans desperate for a response to rampant crime and lawlessness. In the east, he is considered a hero, someone who was able to take initiative when others failed to do so. That is what won him trust, credibility and popularity.

Hifter’s forces have clashed with Islamist groups now aligned with the U.S.-backed government. These Islamist groups have been accused by Hifter of bringing in foreign fighters and weapons with the aid of Turkey and Qatar.

The general does has powerful allies, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have encouraged his campaign in the eastern part of the country. French troops have been using Benghazi’s Benina air base, where Hifter’s forces also operate. And although it is unclear what relationship he has with the French, he has benefited from the perception of outside backing.

Hifter has been compared favorably to Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, the general-turned-strongman president in Egypt who shares the Libyan’s desire to quash the region’s Islamists. His alliance with Egypt has had added benefits for him as well. It was reported that Hifter's connection with Russia was co-ordinated with the help of president al-Sissi.

Newly released pictures show him during a secretive visit to Russia last month, Hifter's third visit in the last year.

The pictures confirm he met with Russia's Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail L. Bogdanov. Its not difficult to predict what these talks were about. As part of UN sanctions stemming from its 2011 revolution, Libya is under an embargo. Hifter has been able to circumvent this so far by having Egypt and the UAE "donate" arms to him in small quantities. But these governments have come under increasing scrutiny.

See: Canadian firm shipped armoured cars to lawless Libya despite UN warning

-U.N. approves high seas crackdown on Libya arms smuggling

-The UAE and Qatar Wage a Proxy War in Libya

-Libya looks to Russia for arms

Through the Russian connection he would be able to enjoy unfettered access to weapon without needing to succumb to international pressure. Hifter no doubt see's Russia as a counter balance. His attempt to level the playing field as the government in the west of the country benefits from U.S. military support and weapons shipments made by Qatar and Turkey. 

The remaining questions aren't about his move towards Russia, he has made the move. The eastern government has already activated several Billion Dollars in infrastructure contracts with Moscow. The remaining question is how far Russia will go to protect it's newest asset in Libya.