Libya’s military chief dies in airplane crash in Turkey | Libya

The Libyan military’s chief of employees, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad, has been killed in a airplane crash after leaving Turkey’s capital, Ankara.

The prime minister of Libya’s internationally recognised authorities confirmed on Tuesday night that Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad had died and that 4 others had been on the jet with him.

“This adopted a tragic and painful incident whereas they had been getting back from an official journey from the Turkish metropolis of Ankara. This grave loss is a superb loss for the nation, for the navy establishment, and for all of the folks,” the Libyan prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, stated.

He stated the commander of Libya’s floor forces, the director of its navy manufacturing authority, an adviser to the chief of employees, and a photographer from the chief of employees’s workplace had been additionally on the plane.

The Turkish inside minister, Ali Yerlikaya, stated on X that the airplane had taken off from Ankara’s Esenboğa airport at 17.10 GMT en path to Tripoli, and that radio contact was misplaced at 17.52 GMT.

He stated authorities discovered the airplane’s wreckage close to the Kesikkavak village in Ankara’s Haymana district.

Yerlikaya added that the Dassault Falcon 50-type jet had made a request for an emergency touchdown whereas over Haymana, however that no contact was established.

The pinnacle of the presidency’s communications directorate, Burhanettin Duran, stated afterward X that the emergency touchdown request was made due to “{an electrical} failure”. “A non-public jet carrying Libyan Chief of Basic Employees Mohammed al-Haddad, 4 members of his entourage and three crew members reported an emergency to the air site visitors management centre resulting from {an electrical} failure, asking for an emergency touchdown,” he stated within the put up.

Turkey’s defence ministry had introduced Haddad’s go to earlier, saying he had met with the Turkish defence minister, Yaşar Güler, and Turkish counterpart, Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu, together with different Turkish navy commanders.

The crash occurred a day after Turkey’s parliament handed a choice to increase the mandate of Turkish troopers’ deployment in Libya by two extra years.

Nato member Turkey has militarily and politically supported Libya’s Tripoli-based, internationally recognised authorities. In 2020, it despatched navy personnel there to coach and assist its authorities and later reached a maritime demarcation accord, which has been disputed by Egypt and Greece.

In 2022, Ankara and Tripoli additionally signed a preliminary accord on vitality exploration, which Egypt and Greece additionally oppose.

Nevertheless, Turkey has not too long ago switched course below its “One Libya” coverage, ramping up contacts with Libya’s jap faction as nicely.