The Wall Street Journal report about a military base Israel established in the Iraqi desert before the second Iran war sheds new light on remarks made by outgoing Air Force commander Tomer Bar on March 4, just days after the operation began. In a letter to his subordinates, he wrote: “The fighters of the Air Force’s special units are carrying out extraordinary missions these days that can fire the imagination.”
That same day, the Arabic-language newspaper The Independent reported a suspicious incident in Iraq. Citing an Iraqi member of parliament, it said: “A force, apparently American, carried out a rapid landing under air cover in the Najaf-Karbala desert in southwestern Iraq.”
The report said the force entered from the direction of Syria with four to seven helicopters, and that a military force from Karbala Operations Command was sent to investigate the incident and came under fire.
Saturday’s Wall Street Journal report told a somewhat different story, saying the Israeli base was nearly exposed in early March. Iraqi state media reported at the time that a local shepherd noticed unusual activity in the area, including helicopter flights, and that the Iraqi army sent forces to investigate. Israel, it was claimed, drove them away with airstrikes in which an Iraqi soldier was killed.
Meanwhile, online discussion continues around the report about the Israeli military base in Iraq. Various open-source intelligence accounts, one of them with more than 2 million followers, published satellite footage Sunday morning of the site where an airstrip was allegedly prepared in Iraq.
“The temporary runway, about 1.6 kilometers long, was built on the bed of a dry lake, about 180 kilometers southwest of Najaf-Karbala,” one post said. Another account noted that the runway may have gone out of use because of heavy rains in the area. The account operators called on Iraq “to demand answers about the establishment of this illegal base.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter, including senior U.S. officials, said Israel established the secret military outpost in the Iraqi desert shortly before the war broke out, with U.S. knowledge. It was intended to support the air campaign against Iran, and airstrikes were also launched from it against Iraqi forces that discovered it.
According to the sources, Israel stationed rescue teams there that could respond quickly if pilots needed to be extracted. The base also reportedly hosted Air Force special forces trained in commando operations behind enemy lines.
According to the report, after the downing of a U.S. F-15 near Isfahan, Israel offered to assist, but U.S. forces rescued the crew themselves. However, the report said Israel did carry out airstrikes to help secure the rescue operation.
First published: 14:47, 05.10.26