Israel set up a secret base in Iraq, deploying special forces and search-and-rescue teams there to rescue pilots if Israeli aircraft were shot down over Iran. To keep the base hidden, the Israeli Air Force reportedly carried out an airstrike on Iraqi soldiers who were investigating unusual activity in the area.
The Wall Street Journal published on this.
According to the newspaper’s sources, the base also functioned as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force. It was allegedly established shortly before the war began and with U.S. awareness.
One source said that after a U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter jet was shot down near Isfahan, Iran, Israel offered assistance, but American forces rescued the two pilots themselves.
Experts interviewed by the newspaper said western Iraq’s vast, sparsely populated desert made it an ideal location for such a temporary facility.
The Israeli base was nearly discovered in early March after a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights.
Following the initial report, Iraqi forces sent an HMMWV unit to investigate the area around the military base. The group came under an Israeli airstrike, leaving one soldier dead and two others wounded.
Afterward, Iraq deployed two units from the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) to assist in the search for the military base. They reportedly found evidence that military forces had been operating in the area.
“This reckless operation was carried out without coordination or approval. It appears that a force on the ground, supported from the air, was operating beyond the capabilities of our units,” said Lieutenant General Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of Iraq’s Joint Operations Command.
Later in March, Iraq filed a complaint with the United Nations, stating that the attack involved foreign forces and airstrikes, attributing it to the United States. However, a source familiar with the matter told the publication that the U.S. was not involved in the attack.
In late March, a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft mistakenly struck the Iraqi army’s Al-Habbaniyah base in western Iraq, where operations against Islamic State (ISIS) are ongoing.
According to local media, the attack killed seven Iraqi soldiers and injured 13 others. Iraq’s Ministry of Defense strongly condemned the strike, while Iraqi officials renewed calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the region.
