Israel has established a secret military base in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran, according to several people briefed on the matter, including American officials. Built shortly before the outbreak of war, with the knowledge of the United States, this installation would have hosted special forces and served as a logistics platform for the Israeli Air Force.
Located in western Iraq, an immense, isolated and sparsely populated region, the base would have allowed Israel to reduce the distance with the Iranian theater, located approximately 1,600 kilometers away. Search and rescue teams would have been located there to intervene quickly in the event of a crash or ejection of an Israeli pilot. No Israeli pilots were reportedly shot down during the campaign, however.
The site was almost discovered at the beginning of March. According to Iraqi state media, a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights. The Iraqi army then sent troops to inspect the scene. According to a person familiar with the matter, Israel launched airstrikes to keep them at bay.
The incident left one Iraqi soldier dead and two injured. At the time, Baghdad strongly condemned the attack. Lieutenant General Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command, declared a “reckless” operation, carried out without coordination or authorization. Iraq then seized the United Nations, claiming that the attack involved foreign forces and airstrikes, and attributing it to the United States. According to a person informed of the matter, Washington did not take part in the operation.
After the shepherd’s report, Iraqi soldiers left at dawn in the direction of the suspicious site. Two units of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service, a force which played a central role in the fight against the Islamic State organization, were then deployed to search the area. They would have found clues suggesting that a military force had recently been exploited there.
“It seems that a force was present on the ground before the strike, supported from the air, and that it had resources superior to those of our units,” Muhammadawi declared to Iraqi state media.
The Israeli army refused to comment on this information. An Iraqi government spokesperson declined to specify whether Baghdad was aware of the existence of this base.
The site would also have served as a support point for possible rescue missions. When an American F-15 fighter jet was shot down near Isfahan, Iran, the Israelis reportedly offered help in recovering the two aviators. American forces ultimately led the rescue operation themselves. Israel nevertheless reportedly carried out airstrikes to help secure the mission.
During the five weeks of war, the Israeli air force reportedly carried out thousands of strikes against Iranian targets. For security experts, the installation of temporary operational sites before or during a military operation is not usual. A forward post would also have been set up inside Iran to support the American mission to rescue the airmen who fell near Isfahan, before the United States destroyed the planes and helicopters immobilized on place.
The Western Iraqi Desert is particularly suitable for this type of discreet settlement due to its immensity and low population density. He recalls that American special forces had already used this region during operations against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 2003.
Residents of the Iraqi desert have, over the years, learned to distance themselves from unusual activities, whether from armed groups like the Islamic State or special operations teams.
Israeli officials, for their part, suggested that clandestine operations were underway. At the beginning of March, Tomer Bar, then head of the Israeli Air Force, sent a letter to his staff. He spoke of fighters from special units engaged in missions “capable of igniting the imagination”.
