Israel spent the past year preparing a secret site in Iraq for use against Iran, while Iraqi officials confirmed the existence of another Israeli site besides the one revealed by a shepherd who was killed after his truck was pursued.
According to the newspaper, Awad al-Shammari, 29, was on a trip, but instead of returning home, the shepherd accidentally stumbled upon a highly guarded Israeli military secret hidden in the Iraqi desert.
But on his way back to the nearest town in Al-Nukhaib, located in southwestern Anbar, a helicopter opened fire on the truck he was traveling in, killing him.
However, during the period between the beginning of his ill-fated journey and its horrific end, Al-Shammari contacted the Iraqi military command in the area to tell them what he had seen: soldiers, helicopters, and tents gathered around an airstrip.
In conclusion, what Al-Shammari revealed exposed the secret of Iraq hosting two bases that were run by Israel, intermittently, for more than a year.
Al-Shammari's revelations exposed the secret behind Iraq hosting two bases that were run, intermittently, by Israel for more than a year.
According to senior Iraqi and regional officials, Israel operated a base there to support its military operations against Iran, Baghdad's regional ally. The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the presence of an Israeli site in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials told the New York Times that there was a second, undeclared base in Iraq’s western desert as well.
Officials in the region said that the base Al-Shammari found predates the current war between the United States, Israel, and Iran, and was used during the June 2025 conflict, which lasted 12 days.
An official in the region stated that Israeli forces began preparing to build this temporary base in late 2024, as part of their efforts to identify remote locations from which to launch future wars.
Information provided by eyewitnesses and officials indicates that one of the two bases, the one discovered by al-Shammari, was known to Washington since June 2025, or possibly even earlier. This likely means that the United States, Baghdad's other key ally, concealed from Iraq the presence of hostile forces on its territory.
The newspaper quoted Waad al-Qaddo, an Iraqi MP who attended a closed parliamentary briefing on the base, as saying: “This shows a blatant disregard for the sovereignty of Iraq, its government and its forces, as well as the dignity of the Iraqi people.”
Washington ordered Iraq to shut down its radar systems during the June war last year and the current war launched at the end of February.
Two Iraqi security officials revealed that Washington ordered Iraq to shut down its radars during the June war last year and the current war launched at the end of February, which made Baghdad more dependent on US forces to monitor any hostile activity.
The newspaper commented that this revelation of these rules also raises embarrassing questions for Iraq, including: Was the army really unaware of the presence of a foreigner until a shepherd revealed it? Or was it aware of it, but chose to ignore it?
Both possibilities reflect Iraq's inability, long caught in a conflict between Washington and Tehran, to fully control its territory, according to the newspaper, which quoted MP Al-Qaddo as saying: "The position of our security leaders is shameful."
General Ali al-Hamdani, commander of the West Euphrates forces in the Iraqi army, said the army had suspected an Israeli presence in the desert for more than a month before the shepherd was discovered.
He added: “So far, the government has remained silent on this matter.”
The New York Times quoted General Saad Maan, spokesman for the Iraqi security forces, as saying that Iraq “has no information regarding the locations of any Israeli military bases.”
Two regional security officials said the base revealed by Al-Shammari was being used by Israel for air support, refueling, and providing medical treatment.
Two regional security officials said the base revealed by Al-Shammari was being used by Israel for air support, refueling, and providing medical treatment.
This base was established to shorten the distance Israeli aircraft would have to travel to reach Iran. Its presence was intended to be temporary, solely to assist in military operations, such as those conducted during the June 2005 war, where the base proved its usefulness, according to regional officials.
The Israeli army chief of staff, General Eyal Zamir, had said in a speech last year that the success of the Israeli operations was achieved “thanks to several factors, including the integration and camouflage carried out by the air force and the ground commando forces.”
The U.S. Central Command (Pentagon), which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, declined to comment on Israeli operations in Iraq, referring questions to the Israeli military.
However, prominent former U.S. military leaders, Pentagon officials, and U.S. diplomats who served in the region have asserted that, given the close ties between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, it is inconceivable that U.S. Central Command would be unaware of the Israeli presence in western Iraq.
However, Israeli activities in the Iraqi desert were a dangerous and open secret, and Bedouin communities in the western desert continued to report unusual military activity to the Iraqi regional command, according to General Hamdani, the regional commander.
He explained that the army decided not to approach, and merely observed what the commanders suspected were Israeli forces from a distance. They requested information from their American counterparts, but received no response.
On the day that Al-Shammari found the foreign forces, he too contacted the local leadership, according to his relative, General Fahim Al-Ghariati, spokesman for the Karbala Regional Operations Command.
Shortly thereafter, as General al-Qariti and the al-Shammari family reported, contact was lost with him by the army and his relatives.
Israeli activities in the Iraqi desert were a dangerous and open secret, and Bedouin communities in the western desert continued to report unusual military activity to the Iraqi regional command.
His family searched for him for two days before they found the Bedouins who had witnessed his killing, and learned his fate.
His cousin Amir said: “We were told there was a small truck that had burned out, similar to Awad’s truck, but no one dared to go there. When we arrived, we found the car and the body charred.”
His family released photos of his bloodied body, his head and fingers charred, and his burnt-out pickup truck. They buried him next to the vehicle, under a simple gray headstone. A day after the shepherd's report, the Iraqi regional command dispatched a reconnaissance mission, according to General al-Ghariati and General al-Hamdani.
As the units approached the area, they came under fire, according to a statement released the following day by the Iraqi Joint Operations Command. One soldier was killed and two were wounded, and two vehicles were hit before the units decided to withdraw.
Senior Iraqi security officials in Baghdad were struggling to understand what had happened. Two senior officials said their efforts were repeatedly thwarted by military commanders who downplayed the incident. The Iraqi Joint Operations Command publicly declared that “foreign” forces had attacked its soldiers and said it had filed complaints with the UN Security Council.
In private meetings, the Iraqi Chief of Staff, General Abdul Amir Yarallah, contacted his counterparts in the U.S. military, according to General Hamdani and other senior Iraqi officials. Hamdani said, “They confirmed that the force was not American, so we understood it was Israeli.”
Four days after the attack on Iraqi soldiers, on March 8, the Iraqi parliament requested a classified briefing from military commanders. The attending members of parliament said they could not disclose the details.
A second Iraqi official confirmed the existence of a second base, without specifying its location, saying only that it was also located in a western desert region.
But one of them, Hassan Fad’am, told The New York Times that Israel had established at least one other military site inside Iraq. He said, “The base in al-Nukhaib is the only one that has been discovered.”
A second Iraqi official confirmed the existence of a second base, without specifying its location, saying only that it was also located in a western desert region.
According to two senior Iraqi officials, one former and one current, official protocol requires Washington to inform Baghdad of any activities on Iraqi soil. This means, according to these officials, that Washington either concealed the Israeli activity or informed the Iraqi high command of the operations, which it then kept secret. However, the officials considered it highly unlikely that the Iraqi leaders were aware of an Israeli presence before it was revealed by the sponsor, and that they most likely assumed the sites were American.
Although the first base in al-Nukhaib is no longer a center of Israeli activity, the fate of the second base remains unknown, and the shepherd's family says his killing has been met with indifference. His cousin, Amir, said they "demand the government investigate this incident and determine its motives, and they want his rights respected."
