The head of Libya’s armed forces, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad, and four other senior military officials died late Tuesday when their business jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Ankara, officials from both Turkey and Libya confirmed.
The Falcon 50 aircraft went down near the Haymana district, about 74 kilometers (45 miles) south of the Turkish capital. All eight people on board—five Libyan officials and three crew members—were killed.
A Sudden Emergency
Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah announced the death of General Haddad in a Facebook post,expressing “deep sadness and great sorrow.”
The flight had departed Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 1710 GMT. According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, contact was lost 42 minutes later. A senior Turkish official said the jet had reported an electrical failure 16 minutes after takeoff and requested an emergency landing, but communication could not be reestablished.
Response and Investigation
Turkish security personnel located the wreckage in a rural area near Haymana.Local resident Burhan Cicek described hearing “a big sound of explosion… like a bomb.”
Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc stated that the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office has launched a formal investigation into the crash.
Victims and Context
Also killed in the crash were General Haddad’s advisor,Mohammed Al-Assawi, along with Major General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, Major General Mohammed Jumaa, and their escort, Mohammed Al-Mahjoub.
General Haddad had served as the Libyan army’s chief of staff since August 2020. Earlier on Tuesday, he had held meetings in Ankara with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff Selcuk Bayraktaroglu before departing for Tripoli.
Libya has remained divided since the 2011 fall of longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi. The country is split between a UN-recognized government in Tripoli—led by Prime Minister Dbeibah and supported by Turkey—and an eastern administration commanded by Khalifa Haftar.
Turkey maintains close political and military ties with the Tripoli government, though it has recently engaged in diplomatic outreach to Haftar’s eastern faction.
Libyan authorities stated they were notified of the incident by Turkish officials shortly after contact with the aircraft was lost. The country’s ambassador to Turkey visited the crash site as the investigation began.