The head of Libya’s armed forces and four other high-ranking military officials died late Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara.The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, in a statement said three crew members were also killed.Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: “It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learnt of the death of the Libyan army’s chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad.”
Haddad earlier Tuesday held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli.Yerlikaya said on X that Haddad’s jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga airport at 1710 GMT, and “contact was lost” 42 minutes later.
According to the minister, the aircraft issued an emergency landing notification near Haymana — 74 kilometres (45 miles) from Ankara, but contact could not be reestablished.A senior Turkish official said the plane requested an emergency landing because of an electrical failure 16 minutes after it took off.Also, Burhanettin Duran, head of the presidency’s communications directorate, said on X
The jet carried eight passengers, including Haddad, four members of his entourage and three crew members, “reported an emergency to the air traffic control centre due to an electrical failure, asking for an emergency landing,” .
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the incident.
Several Turkish media outlets broadcast images showing the sky lit up by an explosion not far from the location where the aircraft sent a signal. They suspect it could be bomb explosion.
Burhan Cicek, a local in Haymana, recalled the moment when the plane crashed. “I heard a big sound of explosion. It was like a bomb,” he told AFP.Libya’s ambassador to Ankara was also at the site.
“We received a call from the Turkish authorities immediately after the incident, reporting that contact with the aircraft had been lost,” the minister said.
“All contact with the aircraft was lost about half an hour after takeoff from Ankara airport due to a technical problem,” he said.
“We are awaiting the conclusions of the Turkish investigation, and it appears that the plane crashed.”
The minister said the others on the aircraft were Haddad’s advisor, Mohammed Al-Assawi, as well as Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.
Haddad had been the army’s chief of general staff since August 2020 and was appointed by then-Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj.Libya is split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Dbeibah, and Commander Khalifa Haftar’s administration in the east.
The North African country has been divided since a NATO-backed revolt toppled and killed longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.Turkey has close ties with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, to which it provides economic and military support, and there have been frequent visits between both sides.But Ankara has recently also reached out to the rival administration in the east, with the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency, Ibrahim Kalin, meeting with Haftar in Benghazi in August.
The crash, which also killed four senior Libyan military officials and three crew members, has sent shockwaves across Libya, where General al-Haddad was seen as a unifying figure amid deep political divisions. The Libyan government has announced three days of national mourning.
Here is what we know so far:General al-Haddad was Libya’s chief of the General Staff, the highest-ranking military officer in the country’s armed forces.General al-Haddad worked within the United Nations-recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli to bring together competing armed factions.
Media reports said people in Libya were mourning al-Haddad, whom they said was a key figure in efforts to unify the country’s fractured military. “He really was someone who tried to build up the military institutions, especially in western Libya, a place that is divided with powerful armed groups and militias controlling vast areas of land,” .“You have powerful armed groups, militias controlling different parts of land. They hold a huge influence on the government. He refused to let these militias hold sway on the government,” and was seen as “someone that people could rally behind and support to try to bring some kind of unity to Libya.”General al-Haddad had served in that post since 2020 and was seen as a key figure in efforts to unify Libya’s divided military structures, a crucial element of broader attempts to stabilise the country, which descended into chaos following the toppling of its long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011
. General al-Haddad was one of the first military officials who joined the rebel forces in the revolution that toppled Gaddafi.Libya is currently divided between the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli and the rival administration in the east led by military commander Khalifa Haftar. “He was a very charismatic and strong leader. General Mohammed was someone who was respected by all sides,” “He was someone who believed in the rule of law, always talked about values of democracy, and wanted to transition Libya into civilian rule.”Al-Haddad’s death is being mourned in the eastern part of Libya governed by a rival administration, including Haftar, who expressed sorrow and offered his condolences.
During his Turkiye trip, al-Haddad held talks in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and his Turkish military counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu. Ankara has cultivated close military and economic ties with the Tripoli-based administration, but recently,
Ankara has moved to strengthen relations with the eastern administration led by Haftar.Turkey’s Chief of General Staff
Speaking on the plane crash,Burhanettin Duran, Turkiye’s head of communications, said the Dassault Falcon 50 jet departed Ankara Esenboga Airport at 17:17 GMT on Tuesday, bound for Tripoli.At 17:33 GMT, it notified air traffic control of an electrical malfunction and declared an emergency, according to his statement. The jet was 37 years old, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24.Controllers directed the aircraft back towards Esenboga and initiated emergency protocols, but it vanished from radar at 17:36 GMT while descending to land, and communication was lost, Duran said.Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said had earlier reported that the plane requested an emergency landing while flying over Ankara’s Haymana district.
Yerlikaya added that the wreckage was later located near Kesikkavak village in the area. Search and rescue teams reached the crash site after operations were launched by the Interior Ministry.
The Interior Minister later said that authorities had recovered cockpit voice and flight data recorders, collectively known as black boxes. An investigation is under way to “fully clarify” the cause of the crash, he told reporters in Ankara.Investigations into the cause are continuing with the participation of all relevant agencies, Duran said.
Turkiye has appointed four prosecutors to lead the probe, and Yerlikaya noted that 408 personnel were deployed for the search and recovery effort.
A group of military officials from Libya is carrying out inspections at the crash site, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Among the Libyan officials killed were:General al-Fitouri Ghraibil, head of Libya’s ground forces.Brigadier General Mahmoud al-Qatawi, Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority.Muhammad al-Asawi Diab, senior military adviser.Muhammad Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer.Reacting to the incident, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah described the incident as a “tragic loss”.
“This great tragedy is a great loss for the nation, the military establishment, and all the people,” he said. “We have lost men who served their country with sincerity and dedication and were an example of discipline, responsibility, and national commitment.”
In a statement from the eastern Libyan armed forces, commander Haftar expressed “deep sorrow over this tragic loss” and offered condolences to General al-Haddad’s family, tribe, and city, as well as “to all the Libyan people”
.In another statement, Libya’s Government of National Unity announced a three-day mourning period, during which flags will be flown at half-staff across all state institutions, and all official ceremonies and celebrations will be suspended.Austria’s former defence attache to Libya, Wolfgang Pusztai, said the death of al-Haddad was “very significant” and a major blow for Dbeibah.
“Al-Haddad hails from Misrata, an important merchant city about three hours east of Tripoli, just like Dbeibah, and the key role of al-Haddad was to ensure the loyalty of the mighty militias of the city of Misrata to the government,”
Pusztai said “Misrata is the most important military power in western Libya, and this might really trigger some problems for Dbeibah, if this loyalty is broken in the future.”
Libya’s Presidential Council has appointed General Salah Eddine al-Namrush as the acting Chief of Staff for the Libyan army until General al-Haddad’s replacement is announced.
“It’s extremely big shoes to fill. It is really going to be very difficult for authorities to find somebody as charismatic and strong who can unify the country like Mohammed al-Haddad,”
