In recent months, some rebel grunts questioned Younes’s loyalty and asked why he didn’t join them on the frontlines in eastern Libya more often. Other rebel leaders seemed skeptical, too. In an interview with a handful of journalists in March, Ali Tarhouni, the finance minister in the National Transitional Council, was asked whether Younes was the right person to command the rebels. After a long pause, he answered, “I’m not sure we have somebody better.” For his part, Younes addressed questions about his loyalty in several press conferences and claimed that rebel forces would have never succeeded in the east if he hadn’t switched sides.

In the conference on Thursday night, Jalil called Younes “one of the heroes of the February 17 Revolution.” But he also confirmed to reporters that Younes had been called back to Benghazi from frontline positions near the oil city of Brega for questioning. The more important point that Jalil didn’t address is how Younes could have been ambushed when he traveled with a very large security detail. That raises questions whether Younes was shot by someone within the rebel ranks. It’s also puzzling how Jalil could have confirmed Younes’s death if his body had not been found.