Investigations into the Chief of Staff plane incident continue with all credibility and accuracy

Today, Saturday, in Tripoli, the Libyan authorities organized a memorial ceremony for the Chief of Staff, Mohamed Al-Haddad, and his companions, who died in a plane crash near the Turkish capital last Tuesday evening.

The bodies of Al-Haddad and his companions arrived this morning in Tripoli after completing DNA analyzes conducted in Türkiye in comparison with samples from the victims’ families.

At the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, the President of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Al-Manfi, attended the ceremony, accompanied by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba, the Chief of Staff-designate, Salah Al-Din Al-Namroush, and a group of ministers and officials.

In his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Al-Manfi announced the promotion of Lieutenant General Muhammad Al-Haddad to the rank of Field Marshal, and the promotion of his companions to higher ranks. He said that the injury of Al-Haddad and his companions concerns the entirety of Libya and not just their families or the army.

Al-Manfi added, “What we are experiencing today is not just sadness, but rather a moment of awareness on the path to building the state. We hold ourselves responsible for building a unified military institution that protects the nation and is committed to its sovereignty.”

Al-Dabaiba said, “Our loyalty to these martyrs does not lie in words alone, but rather by working to complete the path that we charted together and by continuing to build a unified professional military institution based on law and discipline, a solid institution that is not based on individuals but on stable national values ​​and principles.”

He added: “We, along with Field Marshal Muhammad Al-Haddad, believed in a regular army whose loyalty was to God and then to the nation, despite the pitch blackness and the influence of outlaw groups.”

Regarding the circumstances of the plane accident that claimed the lives of Al-Haddad and his four companions, in addition to a French crew of two and a Greek Cypriot flight attendant, Al-Dabaiba stated that “investigations are continuing with all credibility and accuracy until the full results become clear, in coordination with the Turkish side.”

Yesterday, the Ministry of the Interior in Tripoli confirmed that the procedures for analyzing the black box data of the stricken plane had been transferred to Britain, after Germany apologized for doing so, due to the lack of technical capabilities to deal with this type of French-made Falcon 50 aircraft.

The private plane carrying Lieutenant General Muhammad Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad, four other officers, and three crew members crashed last Tuesday, after taking off from the Turkish capital, Ankara, killing all the passengers on board.

The high-level Libyan delegation was on its way back to the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after holding talks in Ankara aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the two countries.