Benghazi (Libya) - Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar staged a large military parade on Tuesday for the third anniversary of his campaign to control Benghazi, as his troops fight to secure two last districts in Libya's second city. Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) has become the dominant force in eastern Libya over the past three years, though it continues to face armed resistance in Benghazi and other regions, and to take heavy losses. The LNA is aligned with a government and parliament based in eastern Libya that rejects a U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. That has frustrated Western efforts to end a conflict between two loose and shifting alliances that escalated in 2014, worsening the divisions and instability that surfaced with the 2011 uprising against the late strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Haftar, a divisive one-time Gaddafi ally, launched "Operation Dignity" against Islamist militants who had carried out a wave of bombings and assassinations in Benghazi, though he has also fought former rebels opposed to military rule. He has received backing from foreign powers including Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
