While aircraft of the Iranian company “Mahan Air” regularly travel to two German cities, Munich and Düsseldorf, the German newspaper “Bild” has reported that this company’s aircraft are transferring militias from Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon to Syria to fight alongside Bashar Assad’s forces. This comes as the German government and the European Union have opposed implementing U.S. sanctions against Mahan Air.
The newspaper adds that Mahan Air operates 56 aircraft. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards prefer this company over other Iranian airlines, and since August 2015, it has regularly transferred weapons, ammunition, and fighters from Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran to Syria to support Bashar Assad’s regime.
Emanuel Ottolenghi, an aviation expert at the American “Foundation for Defense of Democracies,” says that Mahan Air’s aircraft are among the most important measures to support Assad’s regime.
The company also operates flights to cities across Europe, transporting hundreds of passengers between Iran and these cities.
Secret Flights
Secret flights that benefit Assad’s regime do not appear on the flight maps officially announced by Mahan Air.
On the Mahan Air map published on its website, green points indicate areas currently being served, yellow points indicate areas scheduled to be served, and blue points represent seasonal flight destinations.
Based on this map, although Mahan Air operates many flights to various Middle Eastern regions, no flights to Syria are officially shown.
However, the Flightradar24 website, which enables flight tracking, has recorded different reports of Mahan Air flights.
Commercial aircraft are required to keep their tracking devices constantly active to allow control towers to track their routes and prevent collisions between aircraft.
The site shows that Mahan Air operates many flights between Iran and Syria on an almost daily basis.
Emanuel Ottolenghi regularly monitors Mahan Air flights and publishes them through his Twitter account.
Mahan Air flights are not only between Damascus and Iran, but according to Flightradar24, Abadan is also one of the company’s destinations.
The importance of Abadan lies not only in the presence of an important air base there, but this city is only a few hundred kilometers from the Iraqi city of Basra, which is considered one of the main bases of the “Iraqi Hezbollah” group.
The “Iraqi Hezbollah” militias, under the command of Iranian officers, fight around the Syrian city of Aleppo, and from time to time, images of them alongside their Iranian commanders are published on various websites.
Dangerous Secret Flights
The German newspaper added in its report that pilots of secret flights apparently have orders to turn off tracking devices and turn them back on in areas where they cause no harm; a matter that is extremely dangerous and prevents control towers and other aircraft from seeing their routes. Images in this regard can be seen on the Flightradar24 website.
For example, on December 9 last year, Mahan aircraft W51161 officially flew from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, toward Tehran. However, at an altitude of 10,000 kilometers, the aircraft changed its course toward Aleppo and shortly after disappeared from radar. It appears the reason is that the pilot turned off the tracking device a bit late, so the site recorded the initial minutes of its course change.
The “Bild” newspaper wrote that Beirut is considered an important base for Hezbollah Lebanon, a group whose thousands of militias fight alongside Bashar Assad’s forces in Syria, including in the city of Aleppo and its surroundings, and it appears that Mahan Air transferred them to this city.
The report cites a more dangerous example of such flights. On November 13 last year, a Mahan Airbus A310, which the company also uses for flights to Germany, turned on its tracking device at an altitude of 9,000 kilometers at a distance of several kilometers south of Aleppo. The report speculated that the pilot wanted to first reach an appropriate altitude and then continue his route as a normal aircraft heading toward Latakia.
The result of the aircraft’s sudden reappearance is shown on the Flightradar24 website with its landing in the sea, an error that occurred because of turning the tracking device on and off.
Activist Videos of Mahan Aircraft in Northern Syria
The “Bild” newspaper emphasizes that not only do tracking devices reveal Mahan Air’s secret flights benefiting Assad, but activists also consistently record videos of this airline’s flights in northern Syria.
For example, on May 9 of this year, activists managed to record clear video images of a Mahan Airbus A310 flying over the city of Haritan in northern Aleppo.
Emanuel Ottolenghi says the aircraft flew at low altitude and likely was heading to deliver militias toward Aleppo.
Ignoring Mahan Sanctions
The “Bild” newspaper wrote that the U.S. Treasury Department has listed Mahan Air on its sanctions list, accusing it of supporting terrorism. These sanctions were tightened in March 2016 to include foreign supporters of the company. Nevertheless, the Iranian company not only expanded its flight network but also purchased new aircraft from the European Airbus company.
Mahan Air was able to obtain these aircraft, numbering 9, through an agreement signed with Airbus in May 2015.
Emanuel Ottolenghi says that Europeans ignore U.S. sanctions against Mahan Air on the grounds that, according to them, there is insufficient evidence about the transfer of “terrorists and weapons” by this company; therefore, according to this expert, Mahan Air’s participation in Assad forces’ attacks on the city of Aleppo is significant.
According to him, Americans were concerned about the aircraft sales agreement to Mahan Air, especially since it violates their sanctions. He also criticizes U.S. President Barack Obama in this regard for not turning his statements about Mahan Air sanctions into action, a matter that caused Europeans to confidently ignore American sanctions against the company.
In conclusion, the “Bild” newspaper raises the question of what reaction the German government and the European Union will show to Mahan Air’s active and unprecedented participation in transferring fighters to Syria.
