ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Sunday chaired a meeting of the Air Defense Command to discuss plans to develop its capabilities and contracts with foreign companies to equip it with “advanced specialized systems.”

The meeting was attended by the director of the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Chief of Staff of the Army, according to a statement from Zaidi’s office.

Officials discussed “the plan for building and developing the capabilities of the Air Defence Command and enhancing its readiness in a manner that ensures the protection of Iraqi airspace and achieves sovereignty,” the statement said.

The meeting also covered “contracts concluded with foreign companies to equip the Air Defence Command with advanced specialized systems,” with an emphasis on expediting their execution and delivery, “thereby contributing to completing the air defence system and enhancing its capabilities to monitor and control Iraqi airspace.”

The meeting comes amid a series of recent strikes affecting Iraq, underscoring the spillover of the Middle East conflict onto Iraqi territory since the war began in late February.

In late July, the US and Saudi Arabia carried out strikes on positions belonging to Iraq’s state-integrated but Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in several Iraqi provinces, killing at least 20 fighters and injuring over 30 others.

The attacks came after Saudi authorities said the country’s oil facilities had been targeted by Iran-aligned militias inside Iraq, accusing the factions of acting at the behest of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The PMF, officially under the auspices of the Iraqi state, contains several pro-Iran factions that have also repeatedly targeted US interests in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq since the beginning of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran in late February.

With Iran and its aligned militias targeting diplomatic and military installations across the country and the US and Israel bombing pro-Iran PMF components in return, Iraq has been repeatedly attacked by both sides of the conflict.

On Wednesday, Zaidi directed the bolstering of Iraq’s air defenses, according to his office.