Iraq Chief of Staff Inspects Al-Nukhib, Denies Israeli Base Claims After 1 Soldier Was Killed
Updated
Updated · The Jerusalem Post · May 13
Iraq Chief of Staff Inspects Al-Nukhib, Denies Israeli Base Claims After 1 Soldier Was Killed
1 articles · Updated · The Jerusalem Post · May 13
Lt.-Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yar Allah toured the Al-Nukhib desert on May 12, ordering high readiness and rejecting reports of unlicensed forces or a clandestine Israeli outpost in the area.
March 3 alerts about armed individuals triggered an Iraqi deployment a day later, and an airstrike killed one Iraqi soldier; Baghdad now says the episode was a single engagement, not evidence of any base or airstrip.
The inspection was meant to show Iraq can secure its remote western desert and prevent its territory from becoming a launchpad for attacks on neighboring states amid wider regional tensions involving Israel, Iran and the United States.
Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces also joined the search operation, and the episode is spilling into Baghdad politics as Badr-linked factions resist disarmament and pressure Prime Minister-designate Ali al-Zaidi over cabinet formation.
Was a secret desert base in Iraq part of a covert war, and who is paying the price?
As militias operate independently, can Iraq’s new government ever truly secure its own borders?
Who killed an Iraqi soldier in the desert, and why is the full story still a secret?