Israel built secret air base in Iraq to support Iran war – report

Israeli Air Force set up secret base in Iraq to support air campaign in Iran, and to help rescue pilots in the event an IAF aircraft would be shot down, according to report.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel secretly established a military outpost in Iraq’s western desert to support its air campaign against Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter, including US officials.

The clandestine site was built shortly before the war began, with US knowledge, and housed Israeli special forces while serving as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force, according to the report. Search-and-rescue teams were also positioned there in case Israeli pilots were shot down over Iran.

No Israeli pilots required rescue, but Israel later offered assistance after a US F-15 was shot down near Isfahan. US forces rescued the two airmen themselves, while Israel carried out strikes to help protect the operation, the report said.

The outpost was nearly discovered in early March after a local shepherd reported unusual military activity, including helicopter flights, to Iraqi authorities. Iraqi troops were sent to investigate and came under airstrikes that killed one soldier and wounded two others.

“This reckless operation was carried out without coordination or approval,” Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, told Iraqi state media at the time.

Iraq later filed a complaint with the United Nations, saying the attack involved foreign forces and airstrikes and attributing it to the US. But a person familiar with the matter told the Journal that the US was not involved in the strike.

Iraqi forces later found signs that military personnel had been operating in the area.

“It appears there was a certain force on the ground before the strike, supported from the air, operating beyond the capabilities of our units,” Muhammadawi said.

The Israeli military declined to comment. An Iraqi government spokesman also declined to comment further on whether Baghdad knew about the Israeli base.

The base reportedly helped Israel operate closer to Iran, around 1,000 miles from Israeli territory, during a five-week campaign in which the Israeli Air Force carried out thousands of strikes.

Michael Knights, head of research at Horizon Engage, said such temporary sites are common before military operations.

“It’s normal that before operations you reconnoiter and set up these kinds of locations,” Knights said.

Knights said Iraq’s vast western desert is well suited for temporary outposts and has previously been used by US special forces, including during operations against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 2003.

Israeli officials have hinted at covert activity during the war. In early March, outgoing Israeli Air Force commander Tomer Bar wrote to service members that “fighters from special units of the air force are conducting special missions which could ignite the imagination.”