By Staff, Agencies

An Iraqi legislator slammed the US plans to install Patriot missile systems in the Arab country, saying such deployment violates Iraq’s sovereignty.

“The Iraqi parliament represents all political groups and currents. The (parliamentary) decision demanding the withdrawal of US military forces is supported by the public opinion. Therefore, the [American] troops’ attempt to deploy Patriot missile systems in their bases in order to beef up their combat capabilities is rejected and considered a violation of our sovereignty,” Karim Alawi, a member of the parliament's security and defense committee, told Arabic-language Baghdad Today news agency on Thursday.

“The presence of US forces in Iraq is illegal. The recent parliamentary decision is clear. The ball is now in the government’s court to get those forces out. If it is not implemented, there will a reaction from all fronts, including filing a complaint with the United Nations and other Islamic organizations with the aim of removing American troops,” he added.

The US is considering deploying the anti-missile system to purportedly protect American troops in Iraq.

The decision came after Iran on January 8 fired a number of ballistic missiles at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western province of Anbar, where more than 1,000 US occupation troops are based.

The attack was in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s authorization of a drone strike that assassinated Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps [IRGC], the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units [PMU], Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and their companions near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.