Q&A: Why fighting has again plunged Libya into chaos

CAIRO — Libya has been plunged into chaos again, with forces loyal to a polarizing military commander marching on the capital and trading fire with militias aligned with a weak U.N.-backed government. Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter, who has spent the last few years battling Islamic militants in eastern Libya, presents himself as a strong hand that can unify the country and rid it of extremists. Fighting erupted in Tripoli in the summer of 2014, leaving the international airport largely destroyed and resulting in separate governments in the capital and in eastern Libya, each backed by various armed groups. Hifter helped Gadhafi seize power in a 1969 coup against the monarchy and rose through the ranks of the military, eventually commanding Libyan forces in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.