General Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, the Chief of Staff of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU), was killed in a plane crash on Tuesday evening shortly after departing from Ankara, Turkey. The incident was confirmed by Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who described the event as a "grave loss for the nation."
The crash claimed the lives of five individuals in total. Alongside General Al-Haddad, the victims including Commander of Libya’s Ground Forces, Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority, an adviser to the Chief of Staff and an official photographer.
According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the Dassault Falcon 50-type jet (a leased Maltese aircraft) departed from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 17:10 GMT. Radio contact was lost at 17:52 GMT. Although the crew requested an emergency landing while over the Haymana district, the aircraft ultimately went down near Kesikkavak village.
While the cause of the crash remains unknown, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc has launched a formal investigation. The GNU has declared three days of national mourning and dispatched a delegation to Ankara to oversee the proceedings.
Notably, the crash occurred just one day after the Turkish parliament extended its military deployment mandate in Libya for two more years. This follows years of Turkish support for the Tripoli-based government, though Ankara has recently shifted toward a "One Libya" policy to include engagement with eastern factions.
As of the latest reports, the focus of the investigation has shifted to the technical history of the aircraft. Since the GNU confirmed the jet was a leased Maltese aircraft with limited technical records available to Libyan officials, investigators are currently scrutinizing maintenance logs and the Maltese leasing company's safety protocols to determine if mechanical failure played a role in the emergency landing request.
