Report From the Front: Libya’s Descent Into Chaos

Khalifa al-Ghwel sits behind an imposingly large desk in his government office in central Tripoli. The officialdom of heavy furniture and carpeted floors is tempered by the printed sheet of paper taped to the door proclaiming his title of defense minister in bold font.

Ghwel is one of two defense ministers in Libya who sit on rival sides of a power struggle now engulfing the country. An engineer from Misurata, Ghwel was appointed to the post in September, one month after a coalition of militias calling itself Libya Dawn took control of the capital following weeks of fighting with militias allied to Khalifa Hifter, a renegade general and self-appointed leader of the Libyan National Army who launched an offensive dubbed Operation Dignity last May against Islamist groups in Benghazi.

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