When Gen. Khalifa Hifter was about to launch Operation Karama (Dignity) in Benghazi, he appeared to be signing his own death warrant when he appeared on TV on May 17, 2014, making an announcement in which he declared war on terror, suspending the interim constitution and suspending the government and the elected General National Congress. No one took him seriously then, and his operation seemed like another episode in Libya’s sporadic mini-wars.

At the time, Benghazi, in eastern Libya, was dominated by different Islamist militias accused of killing over 200 military officers, journalists and civil activists, as well as well-known female activist Salwa Bugaighis on June 14, 2014, right after she cast her vote for the 2014 general election. Back then, Hifter was embarking on what appeared to be an impossible mission to rid Libya’s second-largest city of radical groups once and for all.

The coalition Hifter opposed included Ansar al-Sharia Brigades, listed by the United Nations as a terror group and implicated in the killing of US Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi in September 2012. The coalition also included hard-line Islamist militias such as Libya Shield 1, Rafallah al-Sahati Brigade, 17th February Brigades and Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council. Benghazi was a dangerous city for almost any security official and police officer, and as a military officer himself, Hifter knew that he may also be an assassination target.

However, three years on and Operation Dignity is being celebrated, at least in eastern Libya, as a successful military operation that has so far liberated most of Benghazi, except for small neighborhoods by the seafront. In the meantime, Hifter has transformed himself from a small warlord into an important player in Libya’s chaotic political scene — however controversial he has been. He is now a make-or-break player in shaping the country’s future.