*Ground Forces Commander, 3 Others In Same Flight Feared Dead Too
The Libyan Army’s Chief of Staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, has been killed in a plane crash after leaving Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
The Prime Minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government confirmed on Tuesday evening that al-Haddad had died and that four others were on the jet with him.
The crash occurred a day after Turkey’s Parliament passed a decision to extend the mandate of Turkish soldiers’ deployment in Libya by two more years.
“This (crash) followed a tragic and painful incident while they were returning from an official trip from the Turkish city of Ankara. This grave loss is a great loss for the nation, for the military institution, and for all the people,” the Libyan Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, said.
He said the Commander of Libya’s ground forces, the Director of its military manufacturing authority, an Adviser to the Chief of Staff, and a photographer from the Chief of Staff’s office were also on the aircraft.
The Turkish Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on X that the plane had taken off from Ankara’s Esenboğa airport at 17.10 GMT en route to Tripoli, Libya’s capital, and that radio contact was lost at 17.52 GMT.
He said authorities found the plane’s wreckage near the Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district.
Yerlikaya added that the Dassault Falcon 50-type jet had made a request for an emergency landing while over Haymana, but that no contact was established.
The Head of the Presidency’s Communications Directorate, Burhanettin Duran, said later on X that the emergency landing request was made because of “an electrical failure”.
“A private jet carrying Libyan Chief of General Staff Mohammed al-Haddad, four members of his entourage and three crew members reported an emergency to the air traffic control centre due to an electrical failure, asking for an emergency landing,” he said in the post.
Turkey’s Defence Ministry had announced al-Haddad’s visit earlier, saying he had met with the Turkish Defence Minister, Yaşar Güler, and Turkish counterpart, Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, along with other Turkish military commanders.
NATO member Turkey has militarily and politically supported Libya’s Tripoli-based, internationally recognised government. In 2020, it sent military personnel there to train and support its government and later reached a maritime demarcation accord, which has been disputed by Egypt and Greece.
In 2022, Ankara and Tripoli also signed a preliminary accord on energy exploration, which Egypt and Greece also oppose.
However, Turkey has recently switched course under its “One Libya” policy, ramping up contacts with Libya’s eastern faction as well.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Confirmed dead… al-Haddad.
