Will PMU form an air force unit?
Iran-backed PMU factions are trying to form a PMU air force unit with Iranian support, but the top PMU leader says no.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy chairman of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), issued an order Sept. 4 to form a PMU air force unit. Muhandis appointed Salah Mahdi Hantoush to head the unit.
Muhandis had accused Israel of attacking pro-Iranian PMU military bases and weapons warehouses and also accused the United States of facilitating the Israel attacks.
Iraqi media reported that Muhandis, accompanied by Qais al-Khazali, the leader of the Iran-backed militia Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, went to Iranian capital of Tehran on Aug. 28 to ask for an air defense system, including surface-to-air missiles to shoot down drones flying over PMU headquarters.
Al-Monitor learned from a high-ranking source in the PMU that it is specifically seeking the Bavar-373, an Iranian long-range road-mobile surface-to-air missile system comparable to the Russian S-300 missile system.
