Libya’s army chief, General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, has been killed in an air crash in Turkey, Libya’s prime minister has confirmed, marking a major blow to the country’s military leadership. The fatal incident occurred on Tuesday evening when a Falcon 50 aircraft carrying senior Libyan officials crashed southwest of the Turkish capital, Ankara.
The head of Libya’s armed forces and four other passengers died on Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey’s capital and Tripoli said.https://t.co/IjKoU4r7Ay pic.twitter.com/bpPQv4sMCV
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 24, 2025
General Haddad was travelling with four other Libyan military officials and three crew members on a flight bound for Tripoli. According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, contact with the business jet was lost at 20:52 local time, approximately 42 minutes after it departed Ankara’s airport. Before communication was cut, the aircraft had issued an emergency landing request, raising immediate concerns about a technical failure.
Emergency services later located the wreckage near the village of Kesikkavak in Ankara’s Haymana district. Turkish authorities confirmed that the aircraft’s voice recorder and black box have been recovered, and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash. Recovery operations are continuing as teams work to retrieve the bodies from the crash site.
Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh described the deaths as a “great loss” for the nation. In a statement, he said Libya had lost dedicated men who served their country with sincerity, offering condolences to the families of the victims and the wider military establishment.
General Haddad had been in Turkey for high-level talks focused on strengthening military and security cooperation between the two countries. Turkey has played a key role in Libya since 2019, when it intervened to support the internationally recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli against rival forces in the east led by Khalifa Haftar.
The tragedy comes amid Libya’s continued struggle with instability, more than a decade after the overthrow of long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi, which left the country divided and plagued by armed groups and political rivalries.
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