SASHA MORDOVETS/GETTY
On the morning of January 11, Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar climbed up the companionway of an aircraft carrier loating of the Mediterranean port of Tobruk. As a marine band played and an honor guard presented arms, an admiral in a white full-dress uniform greeted Haftar, who was a senior commander in the U.S.-backed rebel forces that ousted the dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi, in 2011. After the welcoming ceremony, the 73-yearold Haftar, an American citizen who for many years lived in the United States, was escorted below decks for a secure video conference with the Middle East’s most energetic foreign power broker. The oicial topic was battling terror. But both sides knew the unoicial agenda was something else: how to boost Haftar’s power as he tries to defeat a weak, U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.