Report: Israel Established a Secret Military Base in Iraq

SadaNews - The Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials, that Israel has established a secret military site within the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran, and has carried out airstrikes targeting Iraqi forces that were about to discover the site early in the war.

According to sources, the base was constructed just before the war broke out and with the knowledge of the United States, where it was used to house special forces and formed a logistical center to support the operations of the Israeli Air Force.

The report added that Israeli search and rescue teams were deployed inside the base in anticipation of the possibility of Israeli pilots being shot down during operations, although this did not occur.

One official revealed that Israel offered assistance when an American F-15 aircraft crashed near Isfahan, but U.S. forces conducted the rescue of the pilots themselves.

The report noted that the site was nearly discovered in early March, after an Iraqi shepherd reported unusual military movements and activity in the area, prompting the Iraqi army to send forces to investigate, before those forces were subjected to airstrikes that prevented them from approaching the site.

The Iraqi authorities also sent two additional units from the Counter-Terrorism Service, which played a prominent role in the war against ISIS, to participate in the search operation in the area, where the forces found indications of military personnel present at the site.

Major General Qais Al-Mohamadi, the deputy commander of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command, told official media: "It seems that some force was on the ground before the strike, supported from the air, and operating with capabilities beyond our units’ abilities."

For its part, a spokesperson for the Iraqi government declined to comment further on the incident or clarify whether Baghdad was aware of the existence of the Israeli base within Iraqi territory.