US military says unaware of Islamic State flights in Syria

The U.S. military said on Friday it was unaware of any flight operations by the Islamic State "in Syria or elsewhere" after a monitoring group reported that Islamic State militants were being trained to fly in three captured fighter jets.

"We're not aware of ISIL conducting any flight operations in Syria or elsewhere," said Central Command spokesman Colonel Patrick Ryder, using an acronym for the group.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the group has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah military airport east of the Syrian city of Aleppo.

"We continue to keep a close eye on ISIL activity in Syria and Iraq and will continue to conduct strikes against their equipment, facilities, fighters and centers of gravity, wherever they may be," Ryder said.