Israel built a secretly operated military outpost deep inside the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign in the run-up to the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, reports in US media have claimed.

On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel built the installation, which housed special forces and served as a logistical hub for its air force, with the ⁠knowledge of the United States just before the start of the war on Iran. The military post also included capacity for search-and-rescue teams to assist downed Israeli pilots.

The report added that Israeli troops launched air attacks from this base against Iraqi forces who nearly discovered it in early March.

What is known so far about this base, and how significant is it?

Here’s what we know:

How was the Israeli base in Iraq discovered?

Open-source analysts identified the suspected location close to Iraq’s border with Saudi Arabia, from satellite images, the WSJ reported.

On Thursday, Lieutenant-General Qais al-Muhammadawi, Iraq’s deputy commander of joint operations, announced that Baghdad had received reports of “individuals or movement” in the Najaf desert, near Karbala, a city about 100km (62 miles) southwest of the capital, the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) said.

“A force of three regiments from the Karbala Operations Command was deployed to investigate. The force came under heavy aerial fire, resulting in the death of one fighter and injuries to two others,” he said.

He added that, later, Iraqi forces were “reinforced by two counterterrorism regiments who searched the area but found nothing”.

The WSJ report also cited statements made in March by Israel’s former air force chief, Major-General Tomer Bar, who said special forces had been conducting “extraordinary” operations during the conflict with Iran. But Bar did not specify the location.

Michael Knights, head of intelligence firm Horizon Engage, told the WSJ that the western desert of Iraq, where the reported base was located, is a perfect spot for a clandestine military outpost due to its sparse population and vast size.

“It’s normal that before operations you reconnoitre and set up these kinds of locations,” he said.

Reporting from Baghdad this week, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said the remote desert terrain in the area has historically been used for covert military operations, and the secret Israeli military post was nearly exposed in March by a local shepherd who reported helicopters in the area.

“The shepherd was killed when his vehicle was reportedly targeted by Israel,” he reported.

What has Iraq said?

There have been widely conflicting reports about suspected Israeli operations from within Iraq.

On Thursday last week, before the revelations about the covert Israeli base came to light, al-Muhammadawi stated that “there is no agreement or consent for any force to be present in this location”.

But in late March, the WSJ revealed, Baghdad did submit an official protest about suspected covert military activity to the US and called any secret operation a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

US officials told the WSJ over the weekend that Washington was not involved in any such operation.

Speaking to the Turkish news agency Anadolu on Sunday, following the US media reports the day before, a senior Iraqi security official again denied that Israel had established a secret military base in the desert.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the reports about the secret Israeli military site inside Iraq were “false”.

On Monday, in a statement on X, Iraqi forces reiterated that no unauthorised foreign forces were operating in their territory and that information being circulated was inaccurate.

But on Monday, a lawmaker from the Badr Organisation told Iraq’s Shafaq News that a joint “US-Israeli” military camp exists in western Iraq.

An unnamed senior Iraqi official in the office of outgoing Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told The New Arab news outlet that a secret military operation had taken place “with American assistance and under American cover”.

“Iraq was subjected to an American deception, and this cannot be considered an intelligence superiority by the Israeli occupation forces or even military progress,” the official was quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, Iraq’s Karbala operations commander told Al Jazeera that an Israeli soldiers’ group had been located in the Najaf desert in March, but that it did not stay in the region for more than 48 hours.

Iraq has been increasingly caught between the US and Iran as regional tensions escalate, deepening economic woes. The discovery of a secret military post has magnified the tightrope Baghdad is walking on, analysts say.

Washington has demanded that Iraq do more to disarm powerful Iran-backed groups operating in its territory and, in March, carried out strikes against a Shia paramilitary group, Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) or Hashd al-Shaabi, following attacks on a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad airport.

“Units of the PMF were targeted by drone strikes and air strikes, with three strikes in different locations,” a statement from a local emergency crisis cell had said, adding that there were no casualties because the positions were deserted.

The PMF is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces and includes some pro-Iranian groups. Pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.

The unnamed official who spoke to The New Arab was quoted as saying that Iraqi authorities had initially classified that attack as part of a broader pattern of US strikes targeting PMF units in the country.

Iraq is widely seen as being caught in a difficult position between the US, Israel and Iran.

Al Jazeera’s Abdelwahed reported this week that, for years, Iraq has tried to distance itself from confrontations between regional powers.

“But such reports suggest that Iraqi territory may have already been used as part of a covert military front, exposing major gaps in sovereignty and regional security at a volatile moment for the Middle East,” he said of covert military operations in Iraq.

How has Iran responded?

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, told local media on Monday that Tehran “does not rule out any possibility regarding the Israeli regime and this is an important issue and will definitely be raised with the Iraqi government”.

“It is clear, and the experience of Israel’s behaviour in the region shows that they do not respect any limits of red lines in order to hit the region to create discord within the region and to hit the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

What has Israel said?

So far, the Israeli army has not commented on the reports that it has a clandestine base in the Iraqi desert.

However, Israel’s official Kan radio previously reported that the presence of the Israeli military base in the Iraqi desert was known to Arab parties.

Observers say the latest accusations raise further questions about whether Iraq has become a hidden regional battlefield in the US-Israel war on Iran.