ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq is expected to receive its first air defense system within months as part of an accelerated plan to protect its airspace from external threats, the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces said.
"We have contracted with the United States of America, Turkey, and South Korea... God willing, in the coming few months the first air defense system will arrive," Sabah al-Numan told Rudaw's Nalin Hassan in an interview aired on Friday.
Numan said Iraq had shortened its six-year air defense development plan to three years without compromising its objectives or standards, aiming to strengthen the country's ability to protect its airspace, including that of the Kurdistan Region.
"The Air Defense Command... had a strategic plan for six years; it was shortened to three years while maintaining the same standards, goals, and plans... in a way that ensures complete sovereignty and total protection of all Iraqi airspace, and certainly including the Kurdistan Region," he said.
The announcement comes amid heightened security concerns following repeated drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region.
The Region has faced more than 1,000 drone and missile attacks by Tehran and Iran-aligned Iraqi armed groups since late February, when the US and Israel launched airstrikes on targets inside Iran, triggering a conflict that has engulfed the region.
Numan stressed that Baghdad would neither allow Iraqi territory to be used to launch attacks against neighboring countries nor tolerate strikes on its territory by foreign states.
The spokesperson also emphasized that foreign aircraft must obtain authorization from Baghdad before entering Iraqi airspace.
"Ultimately, part of our complete sovereignty is that flights over Iraqi airspace must be with the approval of the Iraqi government and relevant security agencies," he said.
