Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh has confirmed the death of General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, the Chief of the General Staff of the Libyan Army, following a fatal aviation accident in Turkey. The General and four other senior military officials were traveling aboard a Falcon 50 business jet that departed from Ankara Esenboğa Airport on the evening of Tuesday, December 23, 2025.
The aircraft, which was bound for Tripoli, vanished from radar approximately 42 minutes after takeoff. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya reported that the jet had issued an emergency landing request shortly before contact was severed at 20:52 local time.
Turkish search and rescue teams located the wreckage later that evening near the village of Kesikkavak in the Haymana district, southwest of Ankara. Prime Minister Dbeibeh described the incident as a “great loss” for Libya, praising General al-Haddad and his team for their sincere dedication to the nation.
The General had been in Ankara for high-level meetings with Turkish Defense Minister Yaşar Güler to discuss the ongoing military and security cooperation between the two nations, a partnership that has intensified since Turkey’s 2019 intervention to support the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by both Turkish and Libyan authorities. While preliminary reports have not cited foul play, the sudden loss of a key military figure has raised concerns regarding the stability of Libya’s security leadership during a delicate period of political transition.
General al-Haddad was considered a pivotal figure in the efforts to unify Libya’s fractured military forces and had maintained strong ties with regional allies. Turkish officials have pledged to provide the public with further developments as forensic and technical teams analyze the flight data recorders from the crash site.
