Libyan Army Chief of Staff Dies in Air Crash
Libya’s Tripoli-based military leadership suffered a devastating blow after the death of the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ali Ahmed al‑Haddad in a plane crash near Ankara, Turkey on December 23.
The aircraft, carrying al‑Haddad and five senior officers from the Government of National Unity (GNU), went down while returning from high‑level meetings with Turkish officials, including Defense Minister Yasar Guler.
According to reports, the plane disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport. Turkish rescue teams later located the wreckage south of the capital, confirming that all passengers had perished.
The delegation had been in Ankara for talks on military cooperation, coinciding with Turkey’s parliamentary decision to extend its troop deployment in Libya for two more years. The loss of al‑Haddad and his top aides is seen as a major setback for the GNU, which relies heavily on Turkish support in its rivalry with Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) based in Tobruk.
Prime Minister Abdel Hamid al‑Dbeibah declared three days of national mourning, calling the crash a “grave national loss.” Turkish authorities have launched a formal investigation into the incident, with early indications pointing to possible technical failure.
It is important to note that Libya currently has two rival governments: one in the east, based in Tobruk and led by Khalifa Haftar under the banner of the Libyan National Army (LNA), supported by Egypt and the UAE; and another in the west, based in Tripoli and headed by Prime Minister Abdel Hamid al‑Dbeibah under the Government of National Unity (GNU), backed by Turkey.
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