A private jet carrying the military commander of western Libya, General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, has crashed shortly after takeoff from Turkey's capital, Ankara, killing all five people on board. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening, casting a pall over a crucial series of high-level defense talks between the two nations.
The flight was returning the Libyan delegation to Tripoli following official meetings aimed at strengthening military cooperation and addressing pressing regional security issues. Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah confirmed the deaths, calling the crash a "tragic accident" and a "great loss" for the country.
According to Turkish officials, the Falcon 50 business jet took off from Ankara's Esenboga Airport at approximately 8:30 p.m. local time. Contact with the aircraft was lost about 40 minutes later, after the pilot issued an emergency landing signal over Haymana, a rural district south of the capital. Libyan officials attributed the crash to a "technical malfunction."
Security camera footage from the area broadcast by local media showed the night sky briefly illuminated by what appeared to be an explosion at the time communication ceased. Turkish authorities have since located the wreckage and, in a standard procedure for such incidents, assigned four prosecutors to lead the investigation into the cause of the crash.
General al-Haddad was a central figure in Libya's fragmented security landscape, playing a key role in United Nations-backed efforts to reunify the country's divided military forces. His death in the midst of diplomatic engagement with Turkey, a major regional player, represents a significant and unexpected blow to Libya's fragile political and security processes at a critical juncture.
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