While the Iranian airline Mahan Air regularly flies to Munich and Düsseldorf, the German newspaper Bild reported that the airline is transporting militants from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon to Syria to fight alongside Bashar al-Assad's forces. This comes despite the German government and the European Union opposing the implementation of US sanctions against Mahan Air.
The newspaper adds that Mahan Air has 56 aircraft. The company is preferred by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps over other Iranian airlines and, since August 2015, has been regularly transporting weapons, ammunition and fighters from Iraq, Lebanon and Iran to Syria in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
Emmanuel Ottolenghi, an aviation expert at the American Foundation for the Advancement of Democracy, says that Mahan Air planes are one of the most important measures to support the Assad regime.
At the same time, the company has flights to other European cities and transports hundreds of passengers between Iran and these cities.
Secret flights
Secret flights that benefit the Assad regime are not visible on the flight maps announced by Mahan Air.
On the Mahan Air map published on its website, green dots indicate areas that are currently being flown to, yellow dots indicate areas that are scheduled to be flown to, and green dots indicate destinations for seasonal flights.
According to this map, despite the fact that many flights are made by Mahan Air to various regions of the Middle East, not a single flight to Syria is officially visible.
However, the Flightradar24 website, which allows flight tracking, has recorded different reports of Mahan Air flights.
Passenger planes are required to keep a device that allows them to track their route turned on at all times so that control towers can track flights to prevent planes from colliding with each other.
This site shows that Mahan Air has many flights between Iran and Syria, which operate on a daily basis.
Emmanuel Ottolenghi regularly monitors Mahan Air flights and posts them on his Twitter account.
Mahan Air's flights are not only from Damascus to Iran and vice versa, but according to the Flightradar24 website, Abdan is also one of the company's flight destinations.
The importance of Abdan is not only due to the presence of an important air base in it, but also because the city is only a few hundred kilometers away from the Iraqi city of Basra, which is one of the main bases of the "Iraqi Hezbollah" group.
Iraqi Hezbollah militias, under the command of Iranian officers, are fighting around the Syrian city of Aleppo, and from time to time, photos of them with their Iranian commanders are published on various websites.
Dangerous secret flights
The German newspaper added in its report that pilots of secret flights are reportedly instructed to turn off their tracking devices and turn them on in areas where they will not cause harm, a very dangerous situation that prevents control towers from operating and other aircraft from observing their route. Photos of this can be seen on the Flightradar24 website.
For example, on December 9, Mahan flight W51161 officially flew from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, to Tehran. At an altitude of 10,000 kilometers, however, the plane changed course towards Aleppo and disappeared from radar shortly after. It seems that the reason was that the pilot turned off the tracking device a little late, which is why the site recorded the first few minutes of its course change.
The Bild newspaper wrote that Beirut is an important base for Lebanon's Hezbollah, a group whose thousands of militants are fighting alongside Bashar al-Assad's forces in Syria, including in and around the city of Aleppo, and it appears that the Mahan company has transferred them to this city.
The report cites a more dangerous example of such flights. On November 13, a Mahan Airbus A310, which the company also uses to fly to Germany, turned on its tracking device at an altitude of 9,000 kilometers, a few kilometers south of Aleppo. The report speculates that the pilot wanted to first get to the right altitude and then continue on his route like a regular plane heading towards Latakia.
The result of the plane's sudden appearance, as shown by the Flightradar24 website, is its landing in the sea, a mistake that occurred due to the tracking device being turned off and on.
Activists' videos of Mahan planes in northern Syria
Bild newspaper emphasizes that not only do tracking devices show secret Mahan Air flights in favor of Assad, but activists also continuously record video footage of this airline's flights in northern Syria.
For example, on May 9, activists managed to capture clear video footage of a Mahan Airbus A310 flying over the city of Haritan, north of Aleppo.
Emmanuel Ottolenghi says the plane was flying at a low altitude and was likely heading towards Aleppo to deliver militants.
Ignoring Mahan sanctions
The US Treasury Department has placed Mahan Air on its sanctions list for allegedly supporting terrorism, Bild newspaper reported. The sanctions were tightened in March 2016 to include the company's foreign backers. However, the Iranian company has not only expanded its flight range, but also purchased new aircraft from the European company Airbus.
Mahan Air was able to acquire these aircraft, which number nine, through an agreement it signed with Airbus in May 2015.
Emmanuel Ottolenghi says that the Europeans are ignoring US sanctions against Mahan Air on the pretext that, according to them, there is insufficient evidence that the company is transporting "terrorists and weapons." Therefore, according to this expert, Mahan Air's participation in the Assad forces' attack on the city of Aleppo is important.
According to him, the Americans were concerned about the agreement to sell the aircraft to Mahan Air, especially since this action violated their sanctions. He also criticizes US President Barack Obama for not turning his words about the Mahan Air embargo into action, which allowed the Europeans to confidently ignore US sanctions against the company.
Bild newspaper finally asks the question: How will the German government and the European Union react to Mahan Air's active and unprecedented participation in transporting fighters to Syria?
