At least one flight simulator and several small planes captured after the ousting of country's president Muammar Gaddafi are in the hands of militants at the moment. According to Erik Burkhart, a former CIA agent, this means that there is threat that the militants could conduct terror attacks like those that occurred in the US on September, 11, 2001.
To carry out the attacks militants only need basic piloting skills, Jacques Neriah, former deputy head for assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence, believes.
"We're talking about very basic, rudimentary pilots who can take off in a light plane and crash themselves into the Vatican, for instance. It takes only an hour and a half to cross [the Mediterranean Sea] from Libya to Rome," Neriah told Fox News.
Earlier this week Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported referring to sources in Libyan military that a terrorist organization had "a brand-new aircraft training simulator" that was possibly shipped to the country from abroad in October. The hardware is equipped with a radar screen and device for communication with traffic controllers.
Moreover, a row of territories in Libya is out of central authorities' control. The UN has noted that amid multiple violations of law and order in various Libyan regions, groups affiliated with Daesh have claimed several territories.
In late November the Wall Street Journal cited sources in Libyan intelligence saying that the number of Daesh militants had reached five thousand. There were also reports of creation of a new military base on the coastal city of Sirte.
