The Wall Street Journal reports:

Israel set up a clandestine military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran and launched airstrikes against Iraqi troops who almost discovered it early in the war, people familiar with the matter including U.S. officials said.

Israel built the installation, which housed special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force, just before the war started with the knowledge of the U.S., the people said.

Search-and-rescue teams were positioned there in case Israeli pilots were downed. None have been. When a U.S. F-15 jet fighter was shot down near Isfahan, Iran, the Israelis offered to help, but U.S. forces managed the rescue of two airmen themselves, one of the people said. Israel did carry out airstrikes to help protect the operation.

The Israeli base was almost discovered in early March. Iraqi state media said a local shepherd reported unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter flights, and the Iraqi military sent troops to investigate. Israel kept them at bay with airstrikes, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Israel’s military declined to comment. The Iraqi government at the time condemned the attack, which left an Iraqi soldier dead.

“This reckless operation was carried out without coordination or approval,” Lt. Gen. Qais Al-Muhammadawi, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command, a central security body, told Iraqi state media in comments about the attack in early March.

In a complaint lodged later in March with the United Nations, Iraq said the attack involved foreign forces and airstrikes, attributing it to the U.S. The U.S. wasn’t involved in the attack, the person familiar with the matter said.

The clash was widely reported in Iraqi and Arab media and generated speculation about the identity of the combatants.

After the initial report from the shepherd, Iraqi soldiers set out in Humvees and drove at dawn toward the site. The group came under intense fire, killing one soldier and wounding two others, Muhammadawi said. [Continue reading…]