Libya’s army chief killed in Turkey plane crash
Source: bne IntelliNews
Libya’s army chief was on the evening of December 23 killed in a plane crash in Turkey, the Libyan prime minister said in a statement.
General Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad as well as four others were on board a Falcon 50 business jet that departed the Turkish capital, Ankara, for the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that the signal with the aircraft was lost at 20:52 local time (18:52 CET). It departed the airport around 42 minutes earlier.
Prior to contact being lost, the Tripoli-bound jet issued an emergency landing request, Yerlikaya said, adding that the aircraft’s wreckage was later found southwest of Ankara near the village of Kesikkavak village in Haymana district.
An investigation into the cause of the crash has been initiated.
In a statement, Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised government, spoke of a “tragic and painful incident while they [the deceased] 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 commander of Libya’s ground forces, the director of Libya’s military manufacturing authority, an adviser to the armed forces chief of staff and a photographer from the chief of staff’s office were the other four people on the aircraft.
The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) said in a statement that the prime minister instructed the defence minister to dispatch an official delegation to Ankara to follow up on the investigation proceedings, he added.
Reuters cited Walid Ellafi, state minister of political affairs and communication for the GNU, as telling broadcaster Libya Alahrar that the jet was a leased Maltese aircraft. He reportedly added that officials did not have “sufficient information regarding its ownership or technical history,” adding that this matter would be investigated.
The GNU announced official mourning across the country for three days.
Turkey’s defence ministry earlier in the day said Haddad met with Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler and Turkish counterpart Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, along with other Turkish military commanders.
On December 22, the Turkish parliament voted to extend the mandate for the deployment of Turkish soldiers in Libya by two more years.
Turkey is a military and political backer of Libya’s GNU under a “One Libya” policy. Five years ago, it sent soldiers to the country to train and support government forces.
A maritime demarcation accord struck between Libya and Turkey has drawn objections from Egypt and Greece. It is linked to a preliminary Turkey-Libya energy exploration accord.
The GNU controls the western part of Libya.
The Libyan House of Representatives-recognised Government of National Stability nominally governs the central and eastern parts of Libya. It is led by Osama Hammad under the de facto rule of the Libyan National Army and its commander Khalifa Haftar.
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