The death of several of western Libya’s senior military leadership in an airplane crash in Turkey on 23 December shocked Libya, with the investigation into the crash ongoing.
On 23 December at 20.52 local time, a Dassault Falcon 50 jet (9H-DFS, owned by the Maltese company Harmony Jets) carrying Lieutenant General Muhammed al-Haddad, Chief of Staff of the Libyan Army, crashed about 40 minutes after take-off from Ankara Esenboğa Airport on the way back to Libya. At the time of the crash there was thick fog and low-hanging clouds in the area. Among the other seven victims (including the French and Greek crew) were the Chief of Staff of the Land Forces, Lieutenant General al-Fitouri Grebeil, and Brigadier General Mahmoud al-Qattiyou, Director of the Military Manufacturing Authority.
On 24 December, Turkish Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said that the chief prosecutor in Ankara is leading the investigation into the crash, with four public prosecutors assigned to conduct a thorough and detailed investigation. On the same day, an official delegation appointed by the Government of National Unity (GNU) Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi arrived in Ankara to investigate the circumstances of the accident in close cooperation with the Turkish authorities.
Rescue teams detected the ‘black box’ of the crashed aircraft, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
The black box of the crashed jet is being examined in UK by the British Department for Transport in cooperation with the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.
On 1 January, Libya’s Civil Aviation Authority chief, Muhammed Shleibak, stressed that no fixed timeline can be set for a final report about the cause of the crash because the condition of the recorders is not yet clear. Heat and impact damage can make data extraction difficult. He added that it is still too early for conclusions, as aviation investigations typically last at least a year.
Unsurprisingly, there have been rumours and conspiracy theories circulating that the crash was orchestrated intentionally, but there is no evidence for this.
Leaders of revolutionary brigades and units in Misrata issued a sharply worded statement condemning what they described as the weak and suspicious response of Dabaiba’s government to the death of Chief of Staff al‑Haddad and his companions. They argued that the government failed to show the level of official concern befitting the victims’ status within the military institution. The statement criticized the absence of a televised address or any clear official position, calling it an insult to members of the armed forces.