Defying reports of an incapacitating stroke and even his death, the Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar has returned to Libya from hospital in Paris and ordered a fresh military assault on Islamist-controlled areas. Numerous sources has reported that Haftar, 75, had either died or suffered a stroke of such severity that his public career was at an end, prompting speculation that his chief backers, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and France, were locked in secret discussions over a successor likely to play a decisive role in Libya’s future.

But Haftar’s return to Benghazi via Cairo to a triumphant reception on Thursday, and a televised statement in which he declared he was well, scotched those reports, which emanated from Paris and were largely promoted by Islamist sources. There had also been reports that lung cancer had spread to his brain. One of Haftar’s allies said: “He was ill. He is 75, but we played along with the idea he was as ill as reported since the frenzy was to our advantage.” Some have speculated Haftar’s allies did not do more to quash the rumours because he wanted to use the vacuum to flush out those disloyal to him inside his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). His absence in Paris coincided with a car bombing on 18 April intended to kill Abdulrazzak Al-Nazuri, the LNA’s chief of staff.(theguardian)…[+]