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Iraqi pilots 'training Islamic State militants to fly MiG fighter jets'
(MENAFN- Arab News) BEIRUT: Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets a group monitoring the war claimed on Friday saying it was the first time the militant group had taken to the air.
The group which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq has been flying the planes over the captured Al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo said Rami Abdulrahman who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report and US Central Command said it was not aware of Islamic State flying jets in Syria.
'They have trainers Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein' Abdulrahman said.
'People saw the flights they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back' he said citing witnesses in northern Aleppo province near the base which is 70 km south of the Turkish border.
Witnesses reported the flights were at a low altitude and only lasted five to 10 minutes before landing the Observatory said.
It was not clear whether the jets were equipped with weaponry or whether the pilots could fly longer distances in the planes which witnesses said appeared to be MiG 21 or MiG 23 models captured from the Syrian military.
The group has regularly used weaponry captured from the Syrian and Iraqi armies and has overrun several military bases but if the report is confirmed this would be the first time it has been able to pilot warplanes.
US Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said: 'We continue to keep a close eye on (Islamic State) activity in Syria and Iraq and will continue to conduct strikes against their equipment facilities fighters and centers of gravity wherever they may be.'
The group which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq has been flying the planes over the captured Al-Jarrah military airport east of Aleppo said Rami Abdulrahman who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the report and US Central Command said it was not aware of Islamic State flying jets in Syria.
'They have trainers Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein' Abdulrahman said.
'People saw the flights they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back' he said citing witnesses in northern Aleppo province near the base which is 70 km south of the Turkish border.
Witnesses reported the flights were at a low altitude and only lasted five to 10 minutes before landing the Observatory said.
It was not clear whether the jets were equipped with weaponry or whether the pilots could fly longer distances in the planes which witnesses said appeared to be MiG 21 or MiG 23 models captured from the Syrian military.
The group has regularly used weaponry captured from the Syrian and Iraqi armies and has overrun several military bases but if the report is confirmed this would be the first time it has been able to pilot warplanes.
US Central Command spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said: 'We continue to keep a close eye on (Islamic State) activity in Syria and Iraq and will continue to conduct strikes against their equipment facilities fighters and centers of gravity wherever they may be.'
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