WORLD_ ISIS has 3 warplanes, Iraqi officers are training ISIS militants to pilot them

ISIS has 3 warplanes, Iraqi officers are training ISIS militants to pilot them

October 17, 2014 12:42 PM MST
Linsey Bald Long Island Top News Examiner



ISIS has 3 warplanes, Iraqi officers are training ISIS militants to pilot them MiG 21 -- the type of jet fighter allegedly under ISIS control / Wikipedia

ISIS has managed to get three captured warplanes airborne, with the assistance of defected Iraqi military officers, and the unrecognized Sunni Jihadists are now flying the fighter jets over Syria in practice formations. If these reports are accurate, this would represent the first time the Islamic terrorist group has taken to the air – adding a new and foreboding breadth to the group’s ability to strike targets outside of their immediate holdings.

Reuters news service on Oct. 17, via the HuffPost, said the report was made by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – an information office opposed to the government of Syria. Writes the group’s website, Syria.hr.com:

Reliable resource reported to SOHR that IS organization has [captured] 3 warplanes that can fly and maneuver. These warplanes are expected to be MiG 21 and 23. Officers from the Iraqi dissolved army, who are also members in the Islamic State Organization, have overseen the training of some militants in order to be able to lead these aircrafts… People who live in the nearby areas of the airbase of al Jarrah informed SOHR activists that they saw a warplane taking off from al Jarrah airbase and flying at a low altitude over the area… The same resources informed SOHR activists that IS fighters seized these aircrafts after taking control over the military airports affiliated to the regime forces in Aleppo and al Raqqa provinces. The resources have not confirmed whether IS owns missiles for this aircrafts or not.

Rami Abdulrahman, who operates the SOHR site, said ISIS “has trainers: Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” Abdulrahman claims. “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.”

American military officials deny the fact that ISIS may have air ability, though it’s common knowledge that ISIS has been appropriating weaponry and munitions captured from several overrun Syrian and Iraqi military strongholds. The U.S. Central Command said it has no confirmed reports of ISIS operating military warplanes in Syria or elsewhere.

“We're not aware of ISIL conducting any flight operations in Syria or elsewhere,” U.S. Central Command spokesman Colonel 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.”

U.S. airstrikes on ISIS targets in the northern Syrian city of Kobani have stepped up this week. The air raids are in collaboration with Kurdish ground troops who are fighting to contain ISIS from spreading outward from Kobani, a city in northern Syria on the border with Turkey that is currently under contestation between forces of Syrian Kurdistan and ISIS.

“What makes Kobani matter for us from an airstrike perspective is that (ISIS is) there, and that they want it,” said Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

Retired Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, commenting to CNN, said the area holds little tactical significance, but based on the fact it borders Turkey, the city represents a pushback point to keep ISIS within Syrian territory.

“It's a small little town along the border with Turkey,” Kimmitt said. “However, it has attracted the attention of the world. The world is watching the coalition fight ISIS and, because of that, a victory by either side in Kobani will have a psychological and strategic communication victory that far outweighs the tactical military victory to whichever side wins.”

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