A New York Times investigation has uncovered explosive new details about unacknowledged Israeli military bases operating in Iraq’s western desert, linking the discovery of one facility to the fatal shooting of a local Iraqi shepherd who stumbled across the site by accident. The revelations have reignited deep tensions across Iraq, strained already fragile alliances in the region, and raised serious questions about alleged United States complicity in keeping the covert operations hidden from the Iraqi government.
The disclosure of the secret outposts builds on reporting published last week by The Wall Street Journal, which first revealed that Israel established an initial covert presence in the remote western Iraqi desert amid its ongoing open conflict with Iran. According to initial accounts, the first installation was constructed in the weeks immediately before the outbreak of full-scale war in February, with the facility purpose-built to support Israeli air operations and house elite special forces detachments. In March, Israeli forces launched an airstrike against Iraqi troops that had nearly exposed the hidden outpost, using the site to coordinate the attack, the original report confirmed.
Israeli outlet Maariv later added further context, reporting that the forward operating base also served as a staging point for Israeli rescue and commando units, whose core mission would be to extract downed Israeli aircrew from Iranian territory if any pilots were shot down during combat missions.
The NYT investigation adds a previously unreported development: confirmation of a second secret Israeli base located in the same remote desert region. Unlike the first outpost, this facility was established before the 2025 full-scale war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran, and was actively used throughout the June 2025 conflict, unnamed officials told the NYT.
The fatal incident that exposed the presence of the bases unfolded when 52-year-old Awad al-Shammari, a local Bedouin shepherd, accidentally came across one of the hidden installations while traveling through the desert to pick up groceries. Local witnesses told the NYT that after Shammari discovered the outpost, an Israeli helicopter opened fire on his pickup truck, killing him instantly.
Shammari’s family spent two full days searching for him before they were able to confirm his death, with local residents too afraid of the sensitive site to approach the area immediately. “We were told that a burned-up pickup truck matching Awad’s was out there, but no one dared to go there,” his cousin Amir al-Shammari told the NYT. “When we got there, we found the car and his body burned beyond recognition.”
The reports of uninvited Israeli military presence on Iraqi soil, and the killing of an unarmed civilian, have triggered widespread public anger across Iraq. The country has never maintained diplomatic relations with Israel, and public sentiment toward the Israeli government is overwhelmingly hostile. Iraqi citizens and political leaders are now increasingly demanding that the interim Iraqi government launch a full public investigation, disclose what officials knew about the bases, and hold all parties responsible for Shammari’s death accountable.
One of the most damaging revelations to emerge from the NYT investigation is that U.S. officials have been aware of the existence of the base Shammari discovered since at least June 2025. Despite the United States’ formal security alliance with Iraq, which includes commitments to respect Iraqi territorial sovereignty, U.S. officials never shared information about the covert Israeli outpost with the Iraqi government, the NYT reported.
Senior Iraqi political figures have already responded with sharp condemnation of both Israel and the United States. Raed al-Maliki, a prominent Iraqi member of parliament, accused the U.S. of effectively ceding control of Iraqi airspace and territory to Israel during the 2025 war. “The United States handed Iraqi airspace to the [Israeli] entity during the war and ordered radar systems to be shut down,” al-Maliki said in a statement responding to the reports. “Now it has become clear that Iraqi territory was also used to establish a secret intelligence centre or base for the Zionist entity.”
As of press time, the Iraqi government has not issued any official public comment or response to the published reports. The revelations come at an already volatile moment for regional security, as the 2025 Iran-Israel war has left border regions across the Middle East unstable and fueled widespread anti-government sentiment in Iraq over perceived failures to protect territorial integrity.