Iraq Launches Parliamentary Probe After Reports Israel Used Najaf Desert Base During Iran War

Reports that Israel established a secret military base in Iraq’s western desert during the war on Iran have triggered a parliamentary probe and competing accounts of what was found on the ground.

The Wall Street Journal report described a covert outpost in Iraq’s western desert used to support air operations and special forces, and the dispute is tied to an incident on March 5 in the desert between Karbala and Najaf where Iraqi forces clashed with an unidentified force, leaving one Iraqi serviceman dead and two others wounded.

Al-Jazeera Net

Iraqi security officials told AFP that “Israeli forces established a base in an abandoned airstrip, built by Saddam Hussein, in the Najaf desert,” while also saying “There are no longer forces there, but they may have left equipment.”

Other Iraqi accounts cited by Al Jazeera say there was no military deployment at the site, with an Iraqi security source telling the network that the area was desert and isolated and “there is no military deployment at the site in question.”

Iraqi parliament is set to summon the defence and interior ministers, and a parliamentary official told The New Arab that senior security figures would also be questioned to establish the truth behind the alleged Israeli base.

Iraqi MP Raed al-Maliki accused the US of handing Iraqi airspace to Israel during the war, saying, "The United States handed Iraqi airspace to the entity during the war and ordered radar systems to be shut down."

Anadolu Ajansı

In parallel, Iraq’s Security Media Cell head Lieutenant General Saad Maan denied the presence of any unlicensed forces or military equipment in the desert regions of Karbala and Najaf, and said Iraqi forces engaged “unknown and unauthorized groups supported by air cover” during the March 5 clash.

The New Region reported that Badr Organization MP Abu Turab al-Tamimi called the claims a “serious security scandal,” adding that they “cannot be ignored or justified” after the Wall Street Journal report.

The dispute is framed as a sovereignty and accountability issue inside Iraq, with the parliamentary summons and the Security Media Cell’s denials running alongside allegations that foreign forces operated from Iraqi territory during the Iran war.

“Israeli forces established a makeshift base using an old airstrip in Iraq's desert during the war against Iran, two security officials told AFP on Sunday, confirming a report by The Wall Street Journal”

ETV Bharat

Al Jazeera reported that an Iraqi security source said jamming and alert devices were detected in Wadi Shnan in western Iraq during the conflict, but that “currently no military forces are present there,” while also asserting that movements were American rather than Israeli.

Alhurra’s account says an Iraqi intelligence adviser, Qasim al-Araji, told the outlet that “The Iraqi airspace is being violated by American and Israeli aircraft,” linking the base controversy to broader claims of airspace violations.

In the background of the allegations, the Jerusalem Post analysis said Baghdad was seeking to respond to US pressure to rein in and disarm Iran-backed militias, and it described the controversy as likely to cause “controversy in Baghdad” over whether a foreign force undermined Iraq’s sovereignty.