Israel established two secret military bases in Iraq to support its air campaign against Iran, The New York Times reported Sunday, citing Iraqi officials.
The report follows a Wall Street Journal report last week that said Israel had built a covert military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support air operations against Iran and had carried out strikes against Iraqi forces that nearly discovered it at the start of the war.
2 View gallery
Satellite image of an alleged military base established by Israel in Iraq
(Photo: Boeing)
According to Iraqi officials quoted by The New York Times, Israel began planning the desert bases in 2024, and the United States had known about one of them since the summer of 2025. One of the bases was reportedly used by the IDF during last summer’s 12-day war with Iran and proved highly effective.
The report said the bases were used for air support, refueling and medical treatment in order to shorten flight distances for Israeli Air Force aircraft on their way to strike targets in Iran.
The newspaper said U.S. officials concealed the Israeli presence from Iraq and forced Baghdad to disable radar systems to prevent Iraqi authorities from detecting the Israeli activity.
The report also described the death of an Iraqi shepherd, Awad al-Shammari, who was allegedly killed after discovering the presence of foreign military bases in the desert.
Residents told the newspaper that a helicopter chased a truck carrying al-Shammari as he returned from a grocery trip and fired on it until it stopped. His relatives believe he was killed after contacting the Iraqi military and reporting foreign military activity in the area. He had also reportedly recorded a video describing what he saw.
“We were told that a burned-up pickup truck the same as Awad’s was out there, but no one dared to go there,” his cousin Amir said, according to the report. “When we got there, we found the car and body burned.”
The New York Times said the IDF did not respond to questions regarding the circumstances of al-Shammari’s death.
The report sparked anger in Iraq.
“It shows a blatant disregard for Iraqi sovereignty, its government and its forces, as well as for the dignity of the Iraqi people,” Waad al-Kadu, a lawmaker in Baghdad who attended a classified parliamentary briefing on the issue, was quoted as saying.
Iraqi officials told the newspaper that formal agreements require Washington to notify Baghdad about such activity on Iraqi soil. But two senior Iraqi officials said efforts by Iraqi authorities to obtain information about the alleged Israeli presence were repeatedly blocked by senior U.S. military officers.
According to the report, Iraqi armed forces chief of staff Gen. Abdul-Amir Yarallah contacted his counterparts in the U.S. military and was told the force operating in the Iraqi desert “is not an American force.”
“So we understood it was Israeli,” the sources told the newspaper.
The report also highlighted Iraq’s difficult geopolitical position since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Baghdad has struggled to balance ties with Washington and neighboring Iran, which wields significant influence through allied militias and political factions.
The Trump administration has increased pressure on Iraq to curb Iranian influence, demanding Baghdad disarm pro-Iran militias and prevent them from integrating further into Iraqi state institutions and security forces.