Iraq Denies Existence of Secret IDF Base, but Sends Soldiers to Check

Iraq is publicly downplaying reports that Israel operated a secret base in its southern desert, while sending senior military officials and troops into the area to search and reinforce control of the region.

Iraqi Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yar Allah visited the Al-Nukhayb desert area southwest of Najaf and Karbala on May 12, in what Baghdad presented as a field inspection of security preparations. The area lies along Route 22, between Najaf and the Saudi border, and was the region identified in a March Wall Street Journal report as the possible site of a clandestine Israeli facility.

Iraq’s Defense Ministry said Yar Allah inspected security measures in the Al-Nukhayb Desert, within the area of responsibility of the 41st Brigade under the Karbala Operations Command. He was accompanied by senior military officials, including his deputy for operations, the ground forces commander, the military intelligence director and the media cell director.

The ministry said he reviewed the site of an “incident” and issued orders to maintain high readiness against security challenges. At the same time, it denied reports that unauthorized forces were present in the desert, saying the claims were not supported by facts or field evidence.

The Iraqi position appears to be that the reported Israeli base did not exist, while also acknowledging that some kind of incident did take place. Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Tahseen al-Khafaji told Rudaw that Iraqi forces were alerted on March 3 to armed individuals in the area. Iraqi troops deployed the next day, and one soldier was killed in an airstrike.

Khafaji said a small foreign force may have briefly been present in the area amid the broader US-Israel-Iran conflict, but that a March 5 follow-up mission found no base, airstrip or evidence of administrative or military construction.

The search has also involved Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, the Iranian-backed militia umbrella group. Its 2nd Brigade, linked to the Badr Organization and close to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, joined operations in the area.

The issue is unfolding during a sensitive political moment in Baghdad. The US has been pressuring Iraq to disarm Iranian-backed militias, while those groups are resisting and reportedly applying pressure during government formation talks. Shafaq News reported that militia refusal to disarm is one factor delaying the formation of the next cabinet.

The result is a strange dual message from Baghdad: Iraq insists there was no Israeli base, while sending its army and militia forces into the desert to prove it can prevent its territory from becoming a launchpad for attacks on neighboring countries.