This satellite image provided by Airbus DS shows what appears to be a human-made track dug out in Iraq’s western Nukhaib desert, some 250 kilometers (155 miles), southwest of the capital, Baghdad, on Sunday, March 8, 2026. (© Airbus DS 2026 via AP)
BAGHDAD (AP) — Israeli forces set up a post in the desert in Iraq at the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, Iraqi and U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
The existence of the secret Israeli military facility was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which described it as a base housing special forces and serving as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force.
The reports of a secret base stirred up a furor in Iraq. Officials there have said that Iraqi army forces investigated reports of an unauthorized military force in the Nukhaib desert — a barren area to the southwest of the cities of Karbala and Najaf — in early March and came under fire while en route to the location.
Iraqi officials have confirmed the presence of a small, short-term unauthorized force in the desert, but have not said that it was Israeli. However, two Iraqi security and intelligence officials and a senior U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said that it was.
