Libya commander Haftar says political solution best, force remains option

Libya’s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar said Friday that force must remain an option for imposing order in the country, though he added that a political solution would be preferable. “It’s obvious that we prefer the political routes, but when these don’t work there must be other solutions,” Haftar told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. “We are defeating terrorism in Libya not through diplomatic channels, but with weapons,” Reuters quoted him as saying.