The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria has been flying three captured Syrian fighter jets under the tutelage of former Iraqi air force pilots, according to an international monitoring group, but U.S. officials say they haven’t heard of that.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that the Russian-made MiG-21 and MiG-23 jets had been seen flying from the al-Jarrah airbase east of Aleppo, one of several Syrian military bases captured by the Islamist extremist group.
At the Pentagon, Gen. Lloyd Austin III, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, said he had no information about whether the Islamic State had been flying aircrafts or whether any Iraqi pilots had defected to the group.
“We don’t have any operational reporting of [the Islamic State] flying jets in support of [Islamic State] activities on the ground,” he said.
Meanwhile, bombing missions by the U.S.-led coalition have been conducted without challenge from either the air forces or air defenses of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Austin said.
“They have not challenged us since we’ve been flying,” he said.
