Iraqi Parliament To Summon Defence Minister Over Secret Israeli Base Established Before Iran Assault.

Baghdad; May 2026: The Iraqi parliament is set to summon the defence and interior ministers following reports that Israel established a secret military base inside the country shortly before the assault on Iran. A parliamentary official said senior security figures would also be questioned to establish the truth behind the Israeli base in the Najaf desert near the Iraqi-Saudi border, which it used during the aggression against Iran to serve as a support base for military operations.

So far, the Iraqi government has not officially commented on the information reported by the American newspaper, amid popular anger on the street that was evident in comments on social media platforms.

On Saturday (09th May 2026) the Wall Street Journal quoted sources it described as “insiders” that Israel established a secret military base in the Iraqi desert in order to support its air strikes on Iran, and even launched air attacks on Iraqi forces that almost discovered their whereabouts during the early days of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The newspaper added, quoting the same sources, that Israel established the base, which houses special forces and serves as a logistical support center for the Israeli Air Force, with the flag of the United States of America. It pointed out that search and rescue teams are stationed in that area in case any Israeli pilot is shot down.

The American newspaper reported that the existence of the secret base was almost revealed at the beginning of last March, noting that Iraqi media reported that a sponsor informed the authorities of the presence of suspicious military activity in the area, after which the Iraqi army sent units to investigate. It added, citing an informed source, that the Israeli army launched air strikes to keep Iraqi forces away from the location of the secret base. The Iraqi government condemned the attack, which killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded two others.

According to the report, installations were built shortly before the war began in February and were later used during an attack in March on Iraqi troops who had nearly uncovered the site. Moreover, Israeli newspaper Maariv reported yesterday (Sunday – the 10th May 2026) that the Israeli military deployed rescue teams and commando units to the forward position, tasked with extracting downed air crews from inside Iran if necessary.

Open-source intelligence platform Faytuks Network published satellite imagery taken in March that appeared to show a makeshift airstrip on a dried lakebed in Iraq’s western desert. Aircraft and temporary structures were reportedly visible at the site.

On 04th March, Iraqi media reported that a soldier was killed during clashes with an unidentified foreign force in the desert between Najaf and Karbala. Iraqi troops had been dispatched to investigate reports of a military airdrop involving several helicopters in the area.

The parliamentary official told media reporters that Iraqi authorities initially believed the force was American and operating under the umbrella of the international coalition. Security sources told several Arab media outlets that there was currently no Israeli presence at the site.

The reports have sparked anger across Iraq, with growing calls for explanations and accountability from the government. Iraqi MP Raed al-Maliki accused the US of handing Iraqi airspace to Israel during the war. “The United States handed Iraqi airspace to the entity during the war and ordered radar systems to be shut down. Now it has become clear that Iraqi territory was also used to establish a secret intelligence centre or base for the Zionist entity”, he said.

The secret base allowed Israel to be closer to the battlefield, the newspaper reported, adding that it had deployed search and rescue units there so that they could respond quickly if urgent rescue operations were necessary. Citing sources, it added that Israeli Air Force special forces were also present at the base.

An Iraqi official in the parliament presidency in Baghdad responded to a question from the media reporters about the issue by saying that the parliament will summon the ministers of defense and interior and security leaders concerned with the situation on the ground to discuss the issue. At the same time, however, he pointed out that the Joint Operations Command confirmed an attack on March 04th on an Iraqi army force in the Nukhaib desert between Anbar and Najaf, adjacent to Saudi Arabia, as it approached a site that included an unknown force, but it was estimated that it was a US force, and as part of a series of attacks it carried out that targeted the Popular Mobilization Forces and also targeted the Iraqi army and border guards. He said he believed that the Iraqi authorities had discovered the matter, but believed that the force was American and operating under the cover of the international coalition.

Local Iraqi reports said that a sheep herder informed the army of the movement of militants in the area and the landing of helicopters, which prompted the Iraqi army to act, and was subjected to a barrage of fire that forced it to withdraw. An official Iraqi statement confirmed Baghdad’s condemnation of the attack and informed the international coalition of the attack, noting that the accused party was US forces at the time.

According to a statement by the Iraqi Security Media Cell following the incident, a force from the Karbala Operations Command was subjected to aerial bombardment and gunfire while carrying out a search mission in the desert area linking the provinces of Karbala and Najaf, killing one of its members and wounding two others.

A high-level investigative committee was formed to find out the circumstances of the incident, the statement said, without specifying the identity of the party that carried out the attack or the nature of the military activity that the Iraqi force was moving to verify. Meanwhile, Karbala MP Zuhair al-Fatlawi confirmed the presence of a “lightning air landing operation” carried out by a military force that likely entered from the Syrian border using between four and seven helicopters, with the deployment of Hummer vehicles in an area about 40 kilometers away from al-Nukhaib district.

The Karbala Operations Command has pushed a reconnaissance force of about 30 military vehicles carrying the Iraqi flag to verify the nature of the operation, al-Fatlawi said, amid reports of shelling of areas in the Samawa desert, Anbar and Diyala, causing tension and speculation about an undeclared military escalation inside Iraq.

Team Maverick.