Libyan Army Chief, Senior Officials Killed in Plane Crash in Turkey

Libya’s army chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, was killed on Tuesday when a private jet carrying him and senior military officials crashed near Ankara shortly after taking off for Tripoli.

The Dassault Falcon 50-type aircraft departed Ankara’s Esenboğa airport at 8:10pm local time (17:10 GMT), according to Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya. Radio contact was lost about 40 minutes later, and the wreckage was found near Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district.

Yerlikaya said the jet requested an emergency landing while over Haymana. Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkey’s presidential communications office, said the aircraft reported an electrical failure, was redirected back to Esenboğa, and then disappeared from radar while descending for the emergency landing. Security camera footage aired by local media showed a flash lighting up the night sky in the area.

All eight people on board were killed, including four senior Libyan military officials and three crew members. The victims included General Al-Fitouri Gharibil, head of Libya’s ground forces; Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, director of the Military Manufacturing Authority; Muhammad Al-Asawi Diab, adviser to the chief of staff; and Muhammad Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer assigned to al-Haddad’s office.

“This followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara,” Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah said. “This grave loss is a great loss for the nation, for the military institution, and for all the people.”

Turkish officials said the Libyan delegation had been in Ankara for high-level defence talks focused on expanding military cooperation. Turkey’s defence ministry earlier said al-Haddad met Defence Minister Yaşar Güler and other senior Turkish commanders during the visit.

The crash came a day after Turkey’s parliament approved a two-year extension of the mandate for Turkish troops deployed in Libya. A NATO member, Turkey has backed Libya’s Tripoli-based, U.N.-recognised Government of National Unity since 2019, sending military personnel and signing defence, maritime, and energy agreements that have been contested by Egypt and Greece. Ankara has recently increased engagement with Libya’s eastern faction under its “One Libya” policy.

Al-Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya and a key figure in U.N.-brokered efforts to reunify the country, which has remained divided since the 2014 conflict following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) declared three days of national mourning, ordered flags flown at half-mast, and suspended official events. The government will send an investigative team to Ankara to work with Turkish authorities to determine the cause of the crash.