This handout photograph taken and released by the Turkish Defense Ministry on December 23, 2025, shows Turkey's Defense Minister Yasar Guler (R) and Libya's Chief of the General Staff, General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad posing during their meeting in Ankara. HANDOUT / AFP
The head of Libya's armed forces and four other passengers died on Tuesday, December 23, when their business jet crashed shortly after taking off from Ankara, officials in Turkey's capital and Tripoli said.
The wreckage of their Falcon 50 aircraft was located by Turkish security personnel in the Haymana district near Ankara, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Libya's Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said on his Facebook page: "It is with deep sadness and great sorrow that we learned of the death of the Libyan army's chief of general staff, Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Haddad."
Al-Haddad earlier Tuesday held talks in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart, Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, and was returning to Tripoli.
