Baghdad Mulling Procurement Of Modern Air Defense Systems Amid Strikes On Iraq's Kurdistan

Baghdad Mulling Procurement of Modern Air Defense Systems Amid Strikes on Iraq's Kurdistan

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2022) The Iraqi authorities are considering supplying the army with advanced missile defense systems against the background of increasing Iranian and Turkish shelling of the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq, Moein Al-Kazemi, a member of the Fatah political alliance in the Iraqi parliament, said on Friday.

"Unfortunately, Iraq has not had proper missile defense systems in service since the days when the United States controlled the formation of the army and the interior ministry... The government intends to acquire such air defense systems," the Rudaw broadcaster quoted Al-Kazemi as saying.

The politician added that Baghdad is in talks with the authorities of Iraqi Kurdistan to provide "a serious presence of the Iraqi Armed Forces (in the autonomous region of Kurdistan) to protect Iraq's borders."

On November 20, Ankara conducted an air operation against militant bases of the People's Defense Units (YPG) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) � groups outlawed in Turkey � in northern Syria and Iraq. The strikes followed recent deadly terrorist attacks on Turkish territory.

According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, a total of 89 targets were destroyed during the operation. The Turkish president called the operation a success and raised the possibility of conducting an additional ground operation soon.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi Ministerial Council on National Security discussed the situation with more intensive shelling of Iraqi Kurdistan by Iran and Turkey. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani's office said in a statement on Wednesday that Baghdad has decided to redeploy border guards to stop attacks on the part of Iran and Turkey.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Yahya Rasul said in May 2021 that Baghdad was considering the procurement of advanced missile defense systems and that then-Defense Minister Juma Inad visited several countries for this purpose. Mohammad al-Haydar, the head of the Iraqi Parliamentary Committee of Security and Defense, told Sputnik in June 2021 that the country's defense ministry was considering the procurement of Russian-made S-300 missile defense systems.