Libyan Army Chief Perishes in Turkish Jet Crash

On Tuesday, December 23, 2025, just after taking off from the capital, Ankara, the private jet carrying Gen. Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, four other officers, and three crew members crashed in Turkiye. Everybody on board perished. According to Libyan officials, the crash was caused by a technical issue. After holding crucial defense discussions in Ankara to strengthen military cooperation between the two nations, the Libyan delegation was heading back to Tripoli.

Following the incident, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibeh took to Facebook to describe it as a "tragic accident" and a "great loss" for Libya. The state-run Anadolu agency reported that Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya plans to visit the site with the prosecutors leading the investigation.

Al-Hadad was the top military commander in western Libya. He played a key role in the ongoing UN-brokered efforts to unify Libya's military, which has been divided, similar to the country's other institutions. The four other officers who died in the crash were General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil, the head of Libya's ground forces; Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Qatawi, who led the military manufacturing authority; Mohammed Al-Asawi Diab, an advisor to the chief of staff; and Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub, a military photographer with the chief of staff's office. The identities of the three crew members were not immediately released.

In an announcement, Turkish officials reported that the Falcon 50 business jet took off from Ankara's Esenboga airport at 8:30 PM. The plane alerted air traffic control about an electrical problem and requested an emergency landing. It was directed back to Esenboga, where preparations for landing began. However, it vanished from radar while descending for the emergency landing, according to the Turkish presidential communications office.

The wreckage of the plane was found near Kesikkavak village in Haymana, about 70 kilometers south of Ankara. A paramilitary force sealed off the crash site, while the Turkish disaster management agency, AFAD, set up a mobile coordination center, as reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency. Specialized vehicles, including tracked ambulances, were sent due to the muddy terrain.

Libya fell into chaos after the country’s 2011 uprising that overthrew and killed dictator Muamar Qadhafi. The country became divided, with rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by various rogue militias and foreign governments. Turkiye has been allied with Libya's government in the west, but it has recently moved to strengthen relations with the eastern-based government as well.

The Libyan delegation's visit on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, occurred a day after Turkiye's parliament approved extending the mandate of Turkish troops in Libya for two years. Turkiye sent troops following a 2019 security and military cooperation agreement between Ankara and the Tripoli-based government.

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