Coming soon: the Islamic State Air Force. The Iraqi pilots are motivated to do this by an ideological affinity with the Islamic State. “Former Iraqi pilots train Islamic State fighters to fly MiG jets,” Associated Press, October 17, 2014:
BEIRUT — The Islamic State group is test flying, with the help of former Iraqi air force pilots, several fighter jets captured earlier from air bases belonging to the Syrian military, a Syrian activist group said Friday.
The report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in Britain could not be independently confirmed, and U.S. official said they had no reports of Islamic State militants flying jets in support of their forces on the ground.
The new development came as the Islamic State group in Iraq pressed its offensive on the strategic city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.: Their advance on the Syrian city of Kobani, however, has stalled as the militants have been forced to retreat on several fronts, shifting the monthlong battle increasingly in favor of the Kurdish fighters defending the city, according to commanders and Kurdish and U.S. officials. Dozens of air strikes this week by the U.S.-led military coalition killed hundreds of Islamic State fighters, allowing Kurdish units to regain territory, said Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the U.S. Central Command on Friday
The Observatory said the planes, seen flying over the Jarrah air base in the countryside of Aleppo province in eastern Syria this week, are believed to be MiG-21 and MiG-23 jets. Rami Abdurrahman, director of the Observatory, said the planes have been flying at a low altitude, “apparently to avoid being detected by Syrian military radar in the area.”
He described the flights as a “moral victory” for the Islamic State group, saying “the jets could not fly much further without being knocked down by the (international) coalition.”…
tpellow says
Supplementary.
“Does ISIS have an airforce? Terrorist ‘fighter pilots’ are being trained on captured MiGs by Saddam Hussein’s ex-air force officers .
“Witnesses say ISIS are carrying out test flights at an airport near Aleppo.
“Understood to have captured three Soviet-made jets from Syrian Air Force.
“They are using former Iraqi Air Force officers to train prospective pilots.
“News comes as Al Qaeda looks to mend relations with the Islamic State.
Statement emerged today calling for jihadists to set aside their differences.”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2797167/does-isis-airforce-terrorist-fighter-pilots-trained-captured-migs-saddam-hussein-s-ex-air-force-officers.html#ixzz3GX8ssNeG
Lori Gattuso says
Whoo-hoo! As a former Navy fighter pilot I wish I were back in the saddle to shoot a few of those down. They will be easy pickins!
Wolfgang says
LOL………I am really smiling at the stupidity of Kerry , Obama, Cameron and the other ” respected ” ( no respect in my eyes ) leaders , these taqqiya fools are deluding us about ISIS having no air strike capability , so much for ISIS. ISIL , IS ( or whatever this gang of Islamic pirates call themselves now ) NOT being able to hit ground targets from the air, well with 11 Jets missing from Libya and now flying older MiG 21s they now DO have ability to strike terror into the hearts of the unbelievers ( us filthy Kaffir ). So much for this being a quick War ! their capacity is GROWING ! with that fool OBOOMBA in control dishing out piddling air strikes on vehicles described in WH press releases as Armoured [ Toyota Hi lux with a 50 cal ] !
Where are the stolen M1 Abrams and Humvee’s being blown to bits ? no one see’s them do they ? or the 500,000 Artillery pieces being blown up ……this does get more interesting as time goes on I think……….
but this is not fundamental Islam is it folks ?…….nothing to see here move on…….
Bezelel says
We have obola’s word on it, plus several other amateur imams have said it has nothing to do with islam. Now do I really have to insert the (sarc)?
Gary Kuemper says
Wolfgang you are bang on.
Wolfgang says
thanks
Coolio says
I can’t see them being that good at landing them.
Bezelel says
Why is it that the first thing that came to mind was Kamikaze ?
umbra says
A possibility, but seems to be too much effort just to have flying bombs. It takes many flight hours to make pilots flight ready for combat jets. In addition, these pilots will have to be competent navigators, otherwise they will have problems finding their targets. They may not have the benefit of navigational guidance from ground control since any communications may alert syrian forces.
isis might try to use these jets for local air defense against aircraft flying in territories it controls.
wildjew says
All they need is a few nuclear weapons. Give them a little time, the Iranians will help them thanks to Barack Hussein Obama.
Beagle says
IS (all Salafist Sunni) is more likely to get nukes from Pakistanis (majority Sunni), not Iranians (majority Shia). The Iranians might eventually nuke IS if it keeps advancing past Baghdad.
Jay Boo says
Barack Obama and John Kerry are driving an out of control tale about “Moderate Freedom Fighters” and we are stuck their bus.
John Kerry is like the guy who says,
“Watch me take a photo of the Grand Canyon from two feet closer”
“and now two feet closer still”
“and ………………..”
Anon says
“The Iraqi pilots are motivated to do this by an ideological affinity with the Islamic State.”
That’s true and not to downplay the seriousness of the report, former iraqi pilots are probably also motivated by the reflection of the sharp edge of a large sword one meter away also. I don’t think ISIS is intelligent enough to get very far with MiG-21 or MiG-23 jets at this point, but it’s a sign of eventual proliferation and eventual nukes on our soil.
Kepha says
Anon, back in 1978-79, the Tudeh-leaning Iranian “stoonts” in the USA and their American campus cheering section were also sure that Khomeini and his crew weren’t smart enough to do an end run around their “workers-and-peasants-national-liberation-movement”, either.
jihad3tracker says
Relax, JW readers ! ! Our president has this under complete control.
The White House anticipated such an event, training one aviator who volunteered after seeing the cool gear which was standard issue to WW I flyers : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQNivz8dpIc
Don McKellar says
There will be no comedy on that day, dark or otherwise. And that day is coming. Sooner than anybody dreamed of, thanks to the lefitist delusions and incompetance of Obama. The disasters of Carter and Bush The Idiot Jr. are rapidly being eclipsed and will be a mere trifle come the time when Obama steps down. They have already been beaten as I write this, but the MSM is too corrupt to go with the story.
11B40 says
Greetings:
I can barely remember it but several years ago, I read a story about I believe it was a Marine fighter pilot flying in the Persian Gulf. Over the radio, he was challenged to identify himself by one of the Ayatollah’s rock’n’rollahs. Being where he was supposed to be, he initially ignored the demand. The demands continued to arrive and subsequently included warnings that the Iranians would send up some of their aircraft to take control of the situation.
The Marine pilot is reported to have replied, “Send them up. I’ll wait.”
pumbar says
They’ll be handy for an impressive fly past at Ben Affleck’s next garden barbeque.
gp says
This problem along with the pilots and all trainees involved should be very short lived, inshallah.
Buraq says
“Now, this switch arms the weapon and when you press this red button ….. no, Shaheed, not yet ……………” Kaboom!!
Clowns!
don vito says
OT, but I really had to! Until semeru shows up here and verifies that this pic is the actual aircraft IS flies and trains on, can we believe this JW post? (sarc). He is always calling out hypocrites (sarc). God bless his soul (nosarc).
Aton says
.
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha – what a story.
The Iraqi air force was the most incompetent in the world. Their pilots could not even fly a 2-seat Cessna, let alone an F-16. We were always surprised when they managed to find their way back to the airfield and (sort of) land. Each aircraft had several sets of spare undercarriage, for ‘eventualities’. And the chances of them every hitting anything, except their buddies, was so remote they would have been better being issued with Sopwith Camels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Camel
The thought of brain-dead ISIS supporters being ‘trained’ by incompetent ex-Iraqi pilots is just so absurd it is frightening. Assad and the Kurds need not fear anything – the only real problem is deciding which town, city or field they will crash into…. 😉
I kid you not.
Aton
fair_dinkum says
the jets they are learning to fly are old, generation 2 fighters. even relatively primitive surface to air defense systems will bring them down.
our gen 4 and 5 fighters (fa 18 and f 22) make these things look like bi planes.
even if they choose a target and fly a suicide mission against it, they have to get past such sophisticated detection systems, they probably wouldnt make it anywhere near those targets on the run in.
Elisheva14 says
They probably also have the the mystery missing Malaysia Airlines Plane from Flight MH370 that was never found.
GP says
I thought Iran had that?
Jimmy says
The jet fighter in the picture is NOT a Mig or Russian design.It is called a Jaguar made by,i believe the French and British.
Davod says
It is not a Jaguar. Could be the Russian made ground attack aircraft.
Jake Gunnermann says
Head cutters of ISIS are sunni muslims,Saudi “royal” family are sunnis,Obama is a sunni……think for a minute.
john thomas says
Er where do they get the MiG Jets. They don’t build ’em.
Jay Boo says
Obama should seek ‘permission’ from Turkey to arm the Kurds.
$500 million in military weapons to Kurdish fighters would be better spent than giving it to those (moderate Muslim friends) in cahoots with the Islamic State genocide.
Of course Turkey would be the first to insist we not call it genocide.
Vostro says
Coming from a former aircraft maintainer, I know that aircraft, even recent models, take an awful lot of TLC to be deemed airworthy, not to mention having even rudimentary flying skills to get them up in the air. In the event that they could get them off the ground (or not), they will be grand for target practice! Just curious…don’t our “eyes in the sky” have an idea where these aircraft are?