Baghdad: A number of members of parliament and political figures in Iraq call for an investigation into media reports indicating that Israel established a secret military base in the Iraqi desert to support its recent air campaign against Iran.
According to Islamic Republic News Agency, Ahmed Majid, a Kurdish politician, is among several lawmakers who have harshly reacted to the report of the existence of an Israeli base in the Arab country, warning that Iraq's sovereignty is being violated by both the United States and the Israeli regime. He noted that it is no more secret that Iraq's airspace is under the control of the US and that both Washington and Tel Aviv are using Iraqi soil and skies to target neighboring states or carry out hostile operations, in a clear violation of the country's sovereignty.
Abu Turab al-Tamimi, an MP from the Badr bloc within the Coordination Framework, also slammed the US and Israeli regime for threatening the security and stability of the region, calling the presence of the Israeli military base and American forces 'a dangerous security scandal' that cannot be kept silent about or justified. He also raised the question as to how enemy forces entered deep into Iraqi territory without the knowledge of border guards, the Interior Ministry, and the Joint Operations Command, insisting that an immediate investigation should be opened and committees should be formed to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Uday Abdul-Hadi, a member of the Coordination Framework, issued a similar call, emphasizing that Iraq's sovereignty and border security should not be neglected.
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal published a report regarding the secret Israeli base in a remote area between the Iraqi provinces of Najaf and Karbala, a revelation that was later swept through Hebrew-language media, with Channel 12 of the Israeli regime showing an aerial photo of the base. The photo posted online shows a 1.6-kilometer-long temporary airport runway built on the bottom of a dried-up lake that the media said was a secret base used by Israeli forces in the recent war on Iran.
The base was reportedly almost exposed in early March after Iraqi state media cited a local shepherd as saying that there was unusual military activity, including helicopter landings and takeoffs, and the Iraqi military had then dispatched forces to investigate but was pushed back with airstrikes.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Saad Maan, the head of Iraq's Security Media Cell, on Sunday denied the recent reports on the Israeli base, saying that the issue highlighted by some news agencies, satellite networks, and social media networks is not true.
Source: Islamic Republic News Agency