risk of jihadist rocket threat: Fears surface-to-air missiles have fallen into hands of terrorists - تخوفات دولية من حصول "داعش" على صواريخ مضادة للطائرات

سلطت صحيفة الإندبندنت البريطانية الضوء على الأسلحة التي يستخدمها تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام ومدي تطور هذه الأسلحة ما يجعلها أسلحة صادمة مثل وحشية تنظيم داعش.

وكشفت الصحيفة عن استحواذ "داعش" على صواريخ روسية مضادة للطائرات قادرة على إسقاط طائرات حديثة في حين يسعي الرئيس الأمريكي باراك أوباما لحشد تحالف لشن هجمات جوية على المتطرفين الإسلاميين في سوريا.

وأشارت الصحيفة إلى الصور التي يستخدمها "داعش" كدعاية لها عبر الإنترنت لمسلحين مقنعين مثلما فعلت بعد اقتحامها القاعدة الجوية في محافظة الرقة بعد حصار طويل ثم نشرت فيديو لإعدام 250 جنديا سوريا بعد تجريدهم من ملابسهم في الصحراء.

وأوضحت الصحيفة أن المعارضة السورية حصلت على قدر كبير من أسلحتها من النظام السوري وحصلت داعش على أسلحة أمريكية متطورة مثل المركبات المدرعة والمدفعية والدبابات العراقية، ويقع بحوزتها ما يترواح ما بين 250 و400 صاروخ أرض جو.

وأضافت الصحيفة أن الطيران الفيدرالي الأمريكي أصدر إنذارا لجميع الخطوط الأمريكية منذ 10 أيام بتجنب الطيران في المجال الجوي السوري لأن المسلحين مجهزون بأسلحة متطورة مضادة للطائرات يمكنها تهديد الطائرات المدنية.

How popular holiday flights run risk of jihadist rocket threat: Fears surface-to-air missiles have fallen into hands of terrorists who could shoot down planes to South Africa and Dubai

• Hundreds of flights a day pass over territory held by likes of ISIS in Iraq
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• Major Europe-Asia flight path is directly above stronghold city of Mosul
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• Claims made it is 'perfectly possible' ISIS could have missiles to destroy jets
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• Scrutiny on flight paths comes after downing of MH17 in Ukraine last week
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• Flights over contested areas serve popular destinations like Johannesburg 

Hundreds of flights a day to destinations including South Africa and Dubai are flying over warzones occupied by terrorists who could have access to surface-to-air missiles, raising fears another aircraft could be shot down.

Carriers including British Airways and Qatar Airlines are making use of flight paths including a busy corridor directly over Mosul, an Iraqi city that is the stronghold of jihadist group ISIS.

The routes are currently considered safe by aviation authorities, but fears have been raised after Flight MH17 was shot down last week, causing many carriers to divert their services from Ukraine.

Flight paths: The above map, which shows routes taken by major carriers this month, shows how planes are flying over dangerous areas of the world. Dotted lines are probable routes for which exact data is not available

Corridor over ISIS: The above picture shows a snapshot of planes flying over Mosul, an ISIS stronghold in Iraq, on Sunday morning. The prospect has been raised that ISIS has missiles that could shoot down a plane

Fighters: ISIS militants swept across Iraq and now control a huge portion of the country

ISIS, the terrorist group which took over swathes of Iraq in June and declared it an 'Islamic State', are a brutal, anti-West group which has boasted of holding mass executions, crucifixion and imposing hardline Islamic law on its conquered territory.

And today the prospect was raised that the group, which has looted Iraqi army supplies including attack helicopters and tanks, also has access to surface-to-air missiles capable of bringing down a passenger jet.

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Williams, a former SAS commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, has said it is 'perfectly possible' the militants have seized missiles from their operations in Syria.

Holiday destination: Flights to South Africa, which pass over embattled parts of northern Africa, are cause for concern

Dubai, pictured, is one of the destinations which can be reached by flying over ISIS-held Iraq and Syria

Speaking to The Times, he said: 'They may also have skilled operators, given the amount of defectors from the Syrian regime and the old Iraqi army staff that will be around.

'I would like someone to show me that they don’t have them, rather than wait to be proved wrong.'

Many flights to Asia, including routes to popular holiday destinations like Dubai, use the flight corridor over Mosul.

There are also concerns over areas of north Africa such including Mali, where a plane crashed on Thursday, killing all 116 passengers. It is not clear what brought down the plane.

Crash site: Flight paths over danger zones have come under scrutiny after MH17, the wreckage of which is pictured above, was brought down over eastern Ukraine after following a popular flight path

Fears: The prospect has been raised that surface-to-air missiles, which are believed to have brought down MH17, are also in the hands militant groups worldwide 

Flights from UK airports which pass over the danger zones head to destinations including Johannesburg in South Africa, Doha in Qatar and parts of southern India. 

A spokesman for British Airways declined to comment on specific routes, but said they had decided all the flight paths they do take are safe.

She said: 'Our flight plans vary depending on a variety of factors, but our highest and first priority is always the safety of our crew and customers.

'Some parts of the world are closed to commercial airline operations and we would never fly in airspace unless we were satisfied that it was safe to do so.'

Other carriers provided similar responses.