I flew Kyiv Borispol (Ukraine, KBP) to Tehran (Iran, IKA) recently, and our flight went over the northeast tip of Iraq. Normally the flight (Ukraine 751) flies close, but not over, Iraq - around 33 miles from the border [0]. In my case, however, because of harsh weather we went over Iraq for a bit, which was definitely interesting. I know Iraqi airspace isn't the same as Syrian airspace, but it's definitely pretty damn scary being a few minutes' flying time from ISIS strongholds.

[0] https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AUI751/history/20170104/...

I flew London -> Dubai with Emirates flew years back and I was pretty pleased to see that we over pretty much the length of Iraq. You're a few dozen thousand feet up on a route that's followed many times per day - I don't think it's particularly dangerous.

Unfortunately Iraq's situation tends to go from bad (but acceptable to fly over) to very bad (when you don't want to fly over it.)

Currently, Emirates does not fly over Iraq for Emirates 30 (LHR-DXB), instead choosing to pay the higher fees of the Iranian government and fly over Iranian airspace. The vast majority of airlines have stopped flying over Iran, and nobody is crazy enough to fly over Mosul, which is ISIS controlled, which was a few minutes' flight time from where I was.

Interestingly, Emirates delayed switching most flights from flying over Iraq to flying over Iran until 2015 because of the higher costs for flying over Iran, which is why you get a lot of people (like you) that flew over Iraq.

Flying is a lot more complex than most people realize.

Ah yes - my flight would be definitely have been pre-ISIS. I distinctly remember seeing Mosul, Baghdad and Basra "nearby" on the in-flight map