Israel covertly built Iraq base to support operations against Iran

Israel secretly built a military outpost deep in Iraq’s desert to support operations against Iran, a move that undercut Baghdad’s claim to control its own territory and widened the shadow war already pulling the region toward open conflict.

The site, prepared over more than a year, was described by Iraqi and regional officials as a clandestine hub for the Israeli Air Force. It housed special forces, served as a logistics node, and included search-and-rescue teams meant to recover downed Israeli pilots if strikes over Iran went wrong. The arrangement showed more than remote planning: it gave Israeli forces a forward foothold inside Iraq, a country that is trying to avoid becoming a direct battlefield between Israel and Iran.

The outpost nearly came to light in early March, when a local shepherd reported unusual military activity, including helicopter movements in the area. Iraqi troops were dispatched to investigate after reports of “individuals or movement” in the Najaf desert near Karbala, Lieutenant-General Qais al-Muhammadawi said. Three regiments were sent into the area, and the Iraqi force came under heavy aerial fire, killing one fighter and wounding two others, Iraqi officials said. Reports said Israeli airstrikes were used to keep Iraqi units away from the site and prevent discovery.

The episode triggered a political backlash in Baghdad. Iraq later filed a complaint with the United Nations in March over an attack it said involved foreign forces and airstrikes. Parliament was preparing to summon the defense and interior ministers, and lawmakers framed the allegation as a direct violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Senior Iraqi officials also accused the United States of helping facilitate the operation, saying it took place under American cover and that Baghdad initially believed the force might have been U.S. personnel operating under the coalition umbrella.

Open-source analysts reportedly identified the suspected location through satellite imagery near Iraq’s border with Saudi Arabia, in terrain long associated with covert military activity. Former Israeli air force chief Tomer Bar added to the sense of a wider campaign when he said in March that special forces had been carrying out “extraordinary” operations during the war with Iran. For Iraq, the revelations raised the risk that a hidden base in its western desert could turn a country trying to stay on the sidelines into a direct target in the next round of escalation.