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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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| Information | | |
Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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22Oct14
Syrian air force destroys old war jets captured by IS
The Syrian airforce destroyed two timeworn war jets, which were captured by the Islamic State (IS) militants in an airbase in Syria's northwestern province of Aleppo, a senior Syrian military source told Xinhua Wednesday.
The Syrian airforce has destroyed two old war jets captured by the IS in the al-Jarrah airbase in Aleppo, said the source on condition of anonymity.
He said the IS originally captured three old war jets in al- Jarrah base, adding that the terror group fighters tried to use them but the Syrian airforce carried out swift airstrikes, destroying two of the captured war jets on the runway of al-Jarrah base while the third one was hid by the IS fighters.
He said the search for the third war jet is still ongoing, stressing that the fighter jets were so old and unable to carry out fighting missions.
However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on October 17 that the IS terror group was in possession of three war jets ready to fly and maneuver in northern Syria. The three war jets believed to be MiG-21 and MiG-23, which are able to fly and maneuver, said the observatory which relies on a network of activists on ground.
It said that IS fighters, who are former Iraqi officers from the military of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussain, were training other experienced IS fighters to fly the war jets, which had been captured by the IS from Syrian military bases in the provinces of Raqqa and Aleppo in northern Syria.
It also said the IS fighters are being trained to use the war jets in the military airbase of Jarrah in the northeastern countryside of Aleppo, adding that the base has recently been used by the IS as a training camp.
Citing witnesses in Aleppo, the observatory said some of the people of Aleppo had seen at least one war jet flying at low altitude over the Jarrah airbase.
Meanwhile, the observatory said it had no information whether the terror group has any missiles that could be fired from the war jets.
[Source: Xinhua, Damascus, 22Oct14]
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