Overview
- Saturday’s Wall Street Journal report said Israel set up a clandestine outpost in western Iraq before the February 28 strikes on Iran to host special forces, search‑and‑rescue teams, and logistics, with U.S. awareness.
- In early March, Iraqi troops who moved to investigate after a shepherd’s tip were hit by airstrikes that killed one soldier and wounded two, leading Baghdad to file a U.N. complaint initially blaming the U.S., which officials in Washington denied.
- Iraqi security spokesmen now say April and May inspections found no foreign forces or equipment at the suspected site, and parliament plans to question the defense and interior ministers about the episode.
- Open‑source researchers published satellite images of a makeshift airstrip near Najaf, and some reports cite an Iraqi source who said the U.S. told Baghdad to keep troops out of the desert during the operation.
- Israel has declined public comment, a former Israeli air force chief hinted at covert missions, and military analysts note the vast western Iraqi desert has long served as cover for temporary forward sites.