Saddam Hussein's former pilots are reportedly training Islamic State jihadists to fly fighter jets captured from Syrian army.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, saying it was the first time that the militant group had taken to the air.
The group has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah Syrian military airport east of Aleppo, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing witnesses in Syria's northern Aleppo province.
"They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein," he said.
