Syria Recovers Air Force Ilyushin From Libya’s Benghazi Airport

Official photographs released by the Syrian Arab News Agency on Thursday showed a Syrian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76, registration YK-ATD, on the tarmac in Damascus after ministries announced its retrieval from eastern Libya.

Ministries Credit Eastern Libyan Command

Syria’s Defense Ministry said it had recovered a Syrian Air Force aircraft that had been parked at Benina International Airport in Benghazi.

The ministry told SANA the handover followed work by the Syrian Air Force command, in coordination with the Foreign Ministry and relevant Libyan authorities.

The Foreign Ministry separately thanked Lt. Gen. Saddam Khalifa Haftar, deputy commander-in-chief of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, Benina airport administrators, and other Libyan authorities, calling the recovery “the result of close coordination and continued follow-up with the Syrian Air Force Command at the Ministry of Defense.”

In the Arabic text of its statement, the ministry said the step “reflects the depth of fraternal relations between the two countries and the two brotherly peoples.” No immediate public comment from Haftar’s Libyan National Army was available beyond the thanks issued in Damascus.

Aircraft Returns to Damascus

Neither ministry named the aircraft’s registration in writing, or said when it would arrive in Syria, Anadolu Agency noted.

Researchers at the Eekad platform said they had tracked an unidentified aircraft arriving from Benghazi near Damascus at 2:08 p.m. local time and assessed it as YK-ATD.

Syria analyst Charles Lister said the airframe had landed at Damascus International Airport. Official SANA images captioned in Damascus on Nov. 12 show the YK-ATD registration on the fuselage.

Assad-Era Flight to Benghazi

Officials in Damascus did not say why the aircraft had been in Benghazi or how long it had remained there.

Eekad reported in August that YK-ATD had flown from Damascus to Benghazi on Dec. 4, 2024, four days before Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed, and later operated domestic flights inside eastern Libya, including to Sabha.

The ministries did not confirm that account in writing, but Thursday’s photographs match the registration Eekad had tracked.

Outreach to Eastern Libya

The recovery comes as the new Syrian government has sought working ties with the Haftar-led authorities in eastern Libya.

Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani met Saddam Haftar in Benghazi on Oct. 11, Anadolu Agency reported, discussing joint security issues, a planned Syrian consulate in the city, and missing Syrian nationals in Libya. The official readout of that meeting did not mention the aircraft.

Shaibani reopened Syria’s embassy in Tripoli on Aug. 30 after more than 14 years, according to SANA.

The return of the Ilyushin restores a heavy transport aircraft that had been outside the Defense Ministry’s control since late 2024, and follows other military contacts, including a French frigate’s call at Latakia.