More than two months after Alhurra revealed details of a mysterious security incident in the Nukhaib desert in western Iraq, The Wall Street Journal published a report about a secret Israeli military base, which it said was established in the western Iraqi desert before the war with Iran, to support Israeli air force operations, special forces, and rescue teams.
The account published by the American newspaper on Saturday intersected on key points with information obtained by Alhurra on the day of the incident from Iraqi security sources. This included a report from an Iraqi shepherd about unusual military movements, the arrival of an Iraqi force at the site, and then its exposure to shelling and gunfire that resulted in the killing of one soldier and the injury of two others.
At dawn on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, an Iraqi shepherd was moving among his sheep in the Nukhaib desert in western Iraq when he saw armed men moving with military discipline, helicopters flying at low altitude, and a deployment that resembled a military operation in an isolated area between Karbala and Anbar.
The shepherd initially believed the force was Iraqi or affiliated with the international coalition, before the scene raised his suspicions. He returned and reported what he saw to military intelligence, triggering a chain of events that, at the time, remained among the most mysterious security incidents in Iraq.
A senior Iraqi security source told Alhurra at the time that an Iraqi army force arrived at the site about half an hour later to verify the report. It initially believed the force present there was American. However, the Iraqi force came under direct fire as soon as it approached the location.
According to the source, the clash resulted in the death of one Iraqi soldier and the injury of two others, before the force—described at the time as “unknown”—withdrew using its helicopters.
In the early hours following the incident, the Iraqi security establishment tried to determine which party had carried out the operation. The security source said the Iraqi side contacted international coalition forces, particularly U.S. forces, to inquire whether they had engaged Iraqi troops, but the Americans denied any involvement.
That denial led Iraqi officials to favor another hypothesis. A second Iraqi security source told Alhurra at the time that “the almost certain information indicates it was an Israeli force,” adding that the group had installed “jamming and positioning” equipment to track drones and missiles launched from Iraq and Iran.
After The Wall Street Journal published its account, Alhurra followed up on the issue with the relevant officials. A senior Iraqi intelligence official confirmed to Alhurra that Iraqi authorities were aware of the details of the incident, saying: “Yes, this information is correct. An Israeli force used our territory, unfortunately.”
In a video interview that has not yet been aired, conducted by the article’s author with Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem al-Araji on May 8, 2026, al-Araji said: “Iraqi airspace is violated. American aircraft and Israeli aircraft.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel established a secret military base in the western Iraqi desert between March and May 2026 and used it to support its air campaign against Iran. According to the newspaper, the base was nearly exposed after an Iraqi shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, prompting the Iraqi army to send a force to investigate.
It added that Israel carried out strikes to push Iraqi forces away from the site, resulting in the killing of one Iraqi soldier and the injury of others.
Following the incident, the Iraqi Security Media Cell issued a brief statement saying that a force from the Karbala Operations Command was subjected, while carrying out a “search duty” in the desert area linking the provinces of Karbala and Najaf, to “airstrikes and gunfire,” which resulted in the death of one of its members and the injury of two others.
The statement added that a high-level investigative committee had been formed to determine the circumstances of the incident, without specifying the identity of the party that carried out the attack or the nature of the military activity the Iraqi force had been moving to verify.
At the time, Karbala MP Zuhair al-Fatlawi spoke of a “swift airborne landing operation” carried out by a military force believed to have entered from the Syrian border using between four and seven helicopters, along with the deployment of “Humvee” vehicles in an area of about 40 kilometers from the Nukhaib subdistrict.
Al-Fatlawi said the Karbala Operations Command dispatched a reconnaissance force consisting of about 30 military vehicles bearing the Iraqi flag to determine the nature of the operation, amid reports of shelling affecting areas in the Samawah desert, Anbar, and Diyala. This caused tension and fueled speculation about an undeclared military escalation inside Iraq.
Despite the uproar the incident generated at the time, Iraqi authorities limited themselves to a general statement that did not identify the party operating in the desert, nor explain how such a large-scale operation was carried out and then withdrawn without an official announcement of the identity of the force involved.
The article is a translation of the original Arabic.
Mustafa Saadoon
Mustafa Saadoon is an Iraqi journalist who has worked for several international and Arab media organizations. He covers politics and human rights.
