Israel Built a Second Secret Base Inside Iraq to Strike Iran, NYT Investigation Finds; Bedouin Shepherd Killed After Stumbling Onto Site

Israel built and operated a second clandestine military base deep inside Iraqi territory to support its air campaign against Iran, according to a New York Times investigation published over the weekend, and Israeli forces shot dead a Bedouin shepherd in early March after he wandered onto the site and reported it to Iraqi authorities. The disclosures expand on earlier reporting by The Wall Street Journal about a first secret outpost and raise sharp new questions about Iraqi sovereignty and the depth of U.S. complicity in the regional war.

The newly described base sits in the sparsely populated western Iraqi desert, roughly 100 kilometers southwest of Baghdad and near the border with Saudi Arabia, according to the Times. Open-source analysts identified its likely coordinates from commercial satellite imagery showing a hardened airstrip, helicopter pads and prefabricated barracks that appeared between late 2024 and the spring of 2025. The site, the paper says, served as a forward logistics hub for Israeli special forces, a refueling point for combat helicopters, and a search-and-rescue base for downed pilots during Operation Rising Lion, Israel's air campaign against Iranian nuclear and missile facilities.

The Times reported that the Israeli military launched operations from the base with the prior knowledge of the United States, citing both Israeli and Western officials. U.S. officials, speaking to several outlets, have publicly denied any direct American operational role. An unnamed Iraqi official, however, told the regional outlet The New Arab that the base operated 'with American assistance and under American cover,' a claim that, if confirmed, would constitute a serious breach of the 2008 status-of-forces understanding governing the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

The most disturbing element of the report concerns Awad al-Shammari, a Bedouin shepherd from a tribe long resident in the desert near Najaf. Relatives told the Times he was driving to a nearby town on March 3 to pick up groceries when he came upon unfamiliar military activity in an area he knew well from herding routes. After photographing the site and notifying Iraqi authorities, he was killed by fire from an Israeli helicopter as he attempted to leave, the paper said. Days later, Israeli troops launched airstrikes from the base against an Iraqi army patrol that had been dispatched to investigate, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding two others, according to Iraqi security sources.

The Iraqi government has so far offered only carefully worded denials. Officials initially called early reports about the base 'false,' but on Sunday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said it had 'opened a confidential inquiry' into the New York Times allegations and would summon both the U.S. and Israeli liaisons in Baghdad. Iran, which lost senior commanders and dozens of nuclear technicians during the air campaign, demanded a full Iraqi investigation and threatened to retaliate against any country that hosted Israeli forces on its soil. Iran's foreign ministry called the alleged base 'an act of war' and said it reserved the right to respond 'at a time and place of its choosing.'

Israeli officials, who rarely comment on covert operations, declined to confirm or deny the existence of either base. But the pattern of disclosure has been deeply uncomfortable for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has cast Operation Rising Lion as a clinical, lawful campaign aimed solely at Iranian military targets. The new accounts suggest a far broader footprint — one that crossed multiple international borders, killed at least one civilian, and depended on infrastructure quietly tolerated by the United States. With another round of U.S.-Iran talks looming and the ceasefire between Israel and Iran still shaky, the political fallout from the secret bases is only beginning.