The government announced that as part of the mourning period, flags at all state institutions will be flown at half-mast, and official events will be temporarily suspended.
According to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, a private plane carrying the general took off from Ankara Esenboğa Airport to Tripoli at 8:10 PM local time. Contact with the aircraft was lost at 8:52 PM, and wreckage was found in the Hayman area of Ankara Province.
Burhanettin Duran, head of the Communications Directorate of the Turkish Presidential Administration, clarified on X that the plane, which had the general, four members of his entourage, and three crew members on board, took off at 8:17 PM.
At 8:33 PM, the crew reported an electrical equipment malfunction and requested an emergency landing, after which they were directed back to Esenboğa. The plane began its descent but disappeared from radar screens at 8:36 PM, after which contact was lost.
Among those accompanying al-Haddad were his advisor Mohamed Al-Asawi Diab, Lieutenant General Al-Faitouri Garib, Brigadier General Mahmoud Al-Katibi, and a photographer from the Chief of Staff's press service, Mohamed Omar Ahmed Mahjub.
General al-Haddad had been the Chief of Staff of the Libyan Army since 2020 and played a significant role in uniting the Libyan military elite. He actively participated in the meetings of the "5+5" military committee, consisting of representatives from the western and eastern regions. The general aimed to create a unified army capable of protecting the country's sovereignty and ending the division among the military. Al-Haddad had visited Turkey multiple times.
