Iraqi parliament committee seeks air defense funding from government

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq's parliamentary Security and Defense Committee has requested that Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's government allocate funds in the federal budget for the purchase of air defense systems. Committee member Karim Aliyawi al-Muhammadawi said he discussed the issue with al-Sudani several days ago, focusing on arming the army and police and acquiring air defense systems to safeguard the country's security and sovereignty. Muhammadawi said the committee asked the Defense Ministry to set aside a budget share to acquire advanced air defense systems from South Korea, China and Russia. He stressed that Iraq should not remain dependent on a single country for its armaments. The committee noted that Iraq's current air defense network consists of fragmented, short-range systems with limited coverage. U.S.-made Avenger and Russian-made Pantsir-S1 systems, among others, have been insufficient to prevent airspace violations by regional powers, according to the committee. The committee had previously called for the air defense and air force budget to be separated from the Defense Ministry's overall budget and treated as an independent line item. No further details were immediately available on the government's response.