Islamic militants practice flying fighter jets.

A monitoring organization said yesterday that Iraqi pilots who joined the self-proclaimed Islamic State are training the group's militants to use three fighter jets captured in Syria.

MiG-21 fighter jet. Photo: Wikipedia.

The Islamic State (IS) is controlling aircraft flying over al-Jarrah military airport, east of Aleppo, Reuters reported, citing Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

"They had instructors who were Iraqi officers, former pilots under (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein. People saw the flights. The planes took off, circled in the sky outside the airport, and then returned," Abdulrahman recounted the accounts of several witnesses living near the military base in Aleppo province. This base is only about 70 km south of the border with Türkiye.

The flights were at low altitude and lasted only 5 to 10 minutes. The Syrian government has not commented. It is also unclear whether the aircraft, possibly MiG-21s or MiG-23s, were armed or whether ISIS was able to fly further. The US Central Command (Centcom) said it had not observed ISIS using aircraft in Syria.

"We have not observed any ISIL flight activity in Syria or elsewhere," said Colonel Patrick Ryder, a Centcom spokesman, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State. "We will continue to closely monitor (IS) activities in Syria and Iraq, and conduct airstrikes targeting IS equipment, facilities, fighters, and command centers wherever they may be located."

The US-led international coalition is conducting airstrikes on numerous ISIS bases in Syria and Iraq. The militant group often uses weapons seized from Syrian and Iraqi forces at captured military bases.

General Lloyd Austin, head of Centcom, said yesterday that the airstrikes have affected ISIS, preventing them from moving in large groups and concentrating to prepare for attacks. The Iraqi army is also "gradually" regaining territory from ISIS in the northwest of the country.

According to Vnexpress