Parliament seeks air defense funds in federal budget

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraq's parliamentary Security and Defense Committee has asked Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to add a provision to the federal budget for the purchase of air defense systems, a committee member said Monday.

Karim Alaywi al-Muhammadawi told Shafaq News that the panel, during a meeting with al-Zaidi, asked him to allocate funds to the Defense Ministry within the budget law to buy advanced air defense systems from South Korea, China, and Russia. “The committee pressed for the country not to rely on a single supplier for its weapons.”

The Security and Defense Committee has earlier called for separating the air defense and air force budget from the conventional Defense Ministry budget, arguing that a sustained funding stream is needed to build an integrated deterrent.

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