Israel quietly established a clandestine military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign againstIran, and launched airstrikes against Iraqi troops who nearly stumbled upon it in the early weeks of the war, according to people familiar with the matter including US officials, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The installation, built just before the war began, housed Israeli special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force. The US was aware of its existence.
Search-and-rescue teams were stationed there specifically to respond quickly if Israeli pilots were shot down over Iranian territory. None were. When a US F-15 was downed near Isfahan, Israel offered to assist, but American forces carried out the rescue of two airmen themselves. Israel did conduct airstrikes to help protect that operation.
Israeli air force special forces, trained for commando operations in enemy territory, were also present at the base. Israel carried out thousands of strikes against targets in Iran over the course of the five-week campaign.
Iraqi soldiers set out in Humvees at dawn and drove toward the site. They came under intense fire. One soldier was killed and two others were wounded. Iraqi authorities then dispatched two additional units from the country's Counter Terrorism Service to search the area. Those units found evidence that military forces had recently been present.
"It appears there was a certain force on the ground before the strike, supported from the air, operating beyond the capabilities of our units," Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of Iraq's Joint Operations Command, told state media.
"This reckless operation was carried out without coordination or approval," Muhammadawi said. An Iraqi government spokesman declined to comment further on the incident or on whether Baghdad knew about the Israeli base.
"It's normal that before operations you reconnoiter and set up these kinds of locations," Knights said, as per the report. He added that locals in the area had told him they spotted unusual helicopter activity during the current war, but that people living in the Iraqi desert have grown used to seeing strange things over the years and have learned to keep their distance.
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