Libyan Military Chief and Four Officials Killed in Plane Crash Near Ankara
Five Libyan officials died in a private jet crash near Ankara on 23 December 2025. The casualties included Libyan military chief General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al Haddad, adviser Mohammed al Asawi Diab, General Al-Fitouri Ghraibil (chief of staff of Libya's ground forces), General Mahmoud al Qatawi (director of the Military Industrialization Organisation), and military photographer Mohammed Omar Ahmed Mahjoub.
The Falcon 50-type jet took off from Esenboga airport in Ankara and issued an emergency signal near Haymana, south of Ankara, before communications were lost. Turkey's interior minister Ali Yerlikaya reported that the crash occurred at about 8:30 pm local time.
Libya’s Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibeh described Haddad’s death as a great loss to the homeland, noting that the officials were returning from an official trip to Ankara. Haddad was the top military commander in western Libya and was involved in UN-backed efforts to unify the country's armed forces amid ongoing divisions between rival administrations in the east, led by Khalifa Haftar, and the west under Dbeibeh.
Prior to the crash, Haddad had met with Turkish defence minister Yasar Guler, Turkish counterpart Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and other Turkish military commanders, according to Turkey’s defence ministry.
