ANKARA: Libya’s army chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, was killed on Tuesday when a business jet carrying him crashed shortly after departing Turkiye’s capital Ankara, Libyan and Turkish officials confirmed.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said the aircraft went down while returning from an official visit, calling the incident a grave national loss. Four others were also on board, including the commander of Libya’s ground forces, the head of the military manufacturing authority, an adviser to the chief of staff, and a photographer.
The Libyan army‘s chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, died in a plane crash on Tuesday after leaving Turkiye’s capital Ankara, the prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government said, adding that four others were on the jet as well. pic.twitter.com/LGyXonRvIT
— World Times (@WorldTimesWT) December 24, 2025
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the Dassault Falcon 50 jet took off from Ankara’s Esenboga Airport at 5:10pm local time en route to Tripoli. Radio contact was lost roughly 40 minutes later, and the wreckage was later found near Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district.
Authorities said the aircraft had requested an emergency landing while flying over Haymana, but communication could not be re-established. The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and Turkish officials have launched a formal investigation into the incident.
Libya’s Tripoli-based Government of National Unity announced three days of official mourning across the country. The prime minister also instructed the defence minister to dispatch an official delegation to Ankara to monitor developments related to the investigation.
Libyan officials said the jet was a leased aircraft registered in Malta, adding that its ownership and technical history would be examined as part of the inquiry.
Al-Haddad’s visit to Turkiye had been announced earlier by Ankara, where he held meetings with senior Turkish defence officials. The crash occurred a day after Turkiye’s parliament voted to extend the deployment of Turkish troops in Libya by two more years.
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Turkiye has been a key military and political backer of Libya’s internationally recognised government, playing a central role in training and supporting its forces since 2020.