A private jet carrying Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, Libya’s top military commander in the west, crashed after takeoff from Ankara on Tuesday, killing all five people on board.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths, calling the incident a “tragic accident” that occurred as the delegation was returning to Libya following high-level defense talks in Turkey.
Turkish officials said the wreckage of a Falcon 50 business jet was located south of the capital. The aircraft had departed Esenboğa Airport at 8:30 p.m. local time, and contact was lost about 40 minutes later near Haymana, a rural district south of Ankara.
Turkey’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said the plane issued an emergency landing signal before communications ceased. Local television stations aired security camera footage that showed the night sky lighting up with what appeared to be an explosion.
What Officials Have Confirmed So Far
Libyan authorities said contact with the aircraft was lost roughly half an hour into the flight due to a suspected technical malfunction.
Prime Minister Dbeibah announced the death of al-Haddad and four others in a statement, describing the loss as a significant blow to the country. Turkish agencies did not immediately confirm the fatalities, stating only that debris from a Falcon 50-type jet had been found and that search and investigation teams were on site.
Airport operations in Ankara were temporarily halted, and several flights were diverted as emergency responders and investigators secured the area. Turkey’s Justice Ministry assigned four prosecutors to the case, a routine step following aviation accidents that involve fatalities or potential criminal inquiries.
Authorities indicated the probe would include air traffic recordings, radar data, maintenance logs, and crew communications, along with a review of any distress signals transmitted in the minutes before the crash.
Al-Haddad’s Ankara Visit and Agenda
The Libyan delegation traveled to Ankara for talks on military cooperation and regional security, according to Turkish officials.
During the visit, al-Haddad met with Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler and other senior officials. Tripoli and Ankara have maintained close ties in recent years, with cooperation that has spanned training, equipment, and coordination on maritime and security matters.
The meetings were part of a broader effort to manage overlapping regional crises and to support Libya’s fragile stabilization. Discussions typically cover defense assistance, institutional reform, and coordination on counterterrorism. While specific outcomes from the latest round were not disclosed, both sides framed the agenda as practical steps to strengthen cooperation and address shared security concerns.
A Key Figure in Libya’s Military Landscape
As the top commander in western Libya, al-Haddad played a central role in attempts to unify Libyan armed forces under U.N.-brokered efforts.
Libya’s military institutions have long mirrored the country’s political split, with rival chains of command in the west and east. Al-Haddad was a principal interlocutor in talks aimed at bridging those divides, building standardized structures, and laying groundwork for joint operations and command arrangements.
Colleagues and officials credited al-Haddad with steady engagement on professionalization and training standards, even as political negotiations stalled or advanced unevenly. His death removes a prominent military leader at a time when technical committees and liaison groups were working through confidence-building measures.
The shift in leadership could complicate coordination tasks that depend on established relationships and personal trust.
