Israel's "Secret" Invasion of Iraq

WSJ confirms a covert Israeli base operated on Iraqi soil for over two months. An Iraqi soldier was killed. The US took the blame.

Satellite imagery appears to show a temporary airstrip at the location of Israel’s secret base in Iraq | Image source: @Obretix (Twitter/X)

For more than two months, Israeli special forces operated a military base on Iraqi soil. The government in Baghdad never approved the mission, the IDF had no legal basis to be there whatsoever. We have a word for such a military presence on foreign soil, it’s called an invasion. While Israel conducted the invasion in secret, and built their base in that same secrecy, they were almost found out. When Iraqi soldiers approached the site on 4 March, Israeli forces opened fire from the air and killed one of them, using airstrikes to keep the Iraqi forces from seeing the base they had illegally installed on Iraqi territory.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the Israel Defense Forces built the base in Iraq’s western desert shortly before launching Operation Roaring Lion against Iran on 28 February. According to US officials cited in the report, the facility served as a logistics hub for the Israeli Air Force and housed special forces and combat search-and-rescue teams. Open-source analysts have since geolocated a graded airstrip at 31°40’11.7”N 42°26’59.2”E, in the deep desert near the Najaf–Anbar borderlands. Multiple OSINT accounts have independently confirmed the location, which we have corroborated through our own research.

The base was nearly exposed on 4 March, when a local shepherd reported unusual military activity, including five to seven helicopters, to the Iraqi army. Iraq’s 41st Brigade moved to investigate. Israeli forces opened fire on them from the air, in a strike that killed one Iraqi soldier and wounded several others.

Iraq’s Security Media Cell initially denied a foreign landing, then confirmed an Iraqi unit had come under fire during a search mission. Iraqi intelligence at the time identified the aircraft as American. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s office summoned the US chargé d’affaires. It’s clear at this point in the story, Iraq still had no idea they had been invaded, and certainly had not realised an Israeli base operated on their territory.

The fire that killed the Iraqi soldier came from Israeli aircraft. Senior US officials told the Wall Street Journal that the Trump regime had been informed of the base in advance. The regime then allowed Iraq to publicly blame the United States while concealing the actual perpetrator, the USA acting as a shield for Israeli international law violations, and not for the first time.

In March, while Iraqi families were grieving, Israeli Air Force chief Major General Tomer Bar told a public audience that special-forces units were carrying out “extraordinary missions that can spark one’s imagination.” He did not elaborate, and now we know why; he was talking about the troops on Iraqi soil.

Under the United Nations Charter, the unauthorized entry of one state’s armed forces into the territory of another constitutes a use of force prohibited under Article 2(4). The 1974 General Assembly definition of aggression, Resolution 3314, defines an act of aggression to include “the invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State.” It also includes the use of armed forces inside another state’s territory without that state’s consent.

The Israeli regime did all of these things. They invaded, they attacked, they killed. When it was all said and done, they concealed it.

The framing in most Western coverage so far has been “secret base,” “covert outpost,” “logistics hub.” These are softer words than the law uses and softer words than the facts deserve, and certainly softer words than we would offer our readers. An armed foreign force entered a sovereign country, established a military installation, and used lethal force against that country’s army to prevent its own discovery. There is a word for that, and that word is invasion.

The US-Israeli war on Iran, which has killed more than 3,400 Iranians and drawn fire across at least eight other states — was not contained to Iran. It expanded the moment the first Israeli soldier set foot on Iraqi territory in February. Gaza immediately faced an increase in bombing, Lebanon faced an invasion, Syria faced an invasion simply so the Israelis could ambush Hezbollah, and now we know Iraq faced an invasion also.

We would like to see the international media call this invasion what it is, and we would like to see a wave of condemnations from world governments, however, as is always the case with Israel, we can’t say when or if the wider world will condemn their latest breach of international law. We should hear from the Iraqi government in the coming days, and depending on the statement made by them, we may slowly see the wider world condemn Israel’s latest invasion of a sovereign territory. We aren’t holding our breaths for that, and nor should you.