Libya’s military chief of staff, General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad, was killed in a plane crash in Turkey on December 23, 2025. The private jet carrying him, four other Libyan officers, and three crew members went down shortly after takeoff from Ankara, killing everyone on board.
The delegation had been in Ankara for high-level defense talks aimed at strengthening military cooperation between Libya and Turkey. Among the victims were Libya’s ground forces commander, the director of military manufacturing, an adviser to the chief of staff, and a photographer.
Preliminary reports point to a technical malfunction as the cause of the crash. Search and rescue teams found the wreckage near Ankara, but recovery efforts were hampered by poor weather conditions.
Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah described the deaths as a “great loss for the nation, the military institution, and all the people,” underscoring the gravity of losing top military leadership.
The incident leaves a sudden gap in Libya’s military command structure and could complicate the country’s fragile security situation.
