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Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) launched on May 11 a security operation across desert near the cities of Najaf and Karbala in central Iraq, aimed to secure the remote region.
Ali al-Hamdani, commander of Middle Euphrates operations within the PMF, said in a statement that the operation, titled “Imposing Sovereignty,” will cover more than 120 kilometers. It involves explosive ordnance disposal teams, intelligence units, and supporting formations.
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Search and clearance activities extend from the al-Fajj checkpoint toward the Nukhayb district and continue to the Arar border crossing with Saudi Arabia.
“The operation came under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and under the supervision of the Chief of Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah,” al-Hamdani added.
The operation is a response to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, which revealed that Israel built the base shortly before the American-Israeli war on Iran started on February 28, in order to serve as a hub for logistics in support of the Israeli Air Force.
To protect the outpost, Israeli troops even launched strikes against Iraqi forces who nearly discovered it in early March, according to the report.
The strikes killed one Iraqi soldier, the Iraqi government said on March 5, after Iraqi media reported that a local shepherd witnessed “unusual military activity,” including helicopters and gunfire in a remote area close to the central city of Karbala. The strikes succeeded in deterring Iraqi forces from further investigating the base.
The base has been since located by open-source intelligence analysts. Satellite images from Soar Atlas shows the makeshift airstrip in a dry lakebed, some 180 kilometers southwest of Karbala.
Before the start of the BMF operation, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command’s Security Media Cell issued a statement saying that recent “reports circulating regarding the presence of unauthorized bases and forces on Iraqi territory, specifically in the Karbala desert east of Nukhaib and Najaf” were being closely monitored.
The cell confirmed again the March clash, adding that “Iraqi security sectors and their various commands are continuing to inspect all areas, especially in desert regions, on a regular basis, extending to the international borders with all neighboring countries.”
The Iraqi parliament will reportedly summon the country’s defense and interior ministers for questioning over the secret Israeli base.
The affair has been widely promoted as a major failure for Iran-aligned armed factions in Iraq, which make up the core of the PMF.
However, a senior Iraqi official who spoke with the New Arab argued that the Israeli operation took 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 told the news outlet.
He said that United States forces had used the cover of the international coalition presence in Iraq to enable the Israeli operations, accusing Washington of exploiting agreements with Baghdad “to serve another party, namely the [Israeli] state”.
Despite the ongoing operation by the PMF, Israel could attempt to carry out similar operations in Iraq if the war on Iran resumes, of course with the direct support from the U.S.
While the U.S. and Israel argue that Iran is responsible for involving Iraq in the war, fact stands that the country’s airspace and territories were first used to stage operations against the Islamic Republic. Whatever comes out from Iran-aligned armed factions is just a reaction.
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