DUBAI, United Arab Emirates- A senior Badr Organization official on Sunday termed reports of Israel establishing a secret military base within Iraq's Najaf province during the war with Iran a "serious security scandal," coming as Iraq's Security Media Cell denies having encountered the base in question during searches following a fatal clash in March.

Abu Turab al-Tamimi said that the claims “cannot be ignored or justified” after a report published Saturday by The Wall Street Journal said that Israel established a clandestine military outpost in Iraq’s desert shortly before the war with Iran began on February 28, allegedly with US knowledge.

According to the article, the installation housed Israeli special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force during its five-week air campaign against Iran. The report said search-and-rescue teams were stationed at the site in case Israeli pilots were downed during operations.

The outlet reported that Iraqi forces nearly discovered the base in early March after a shepherd reported unusual military activity and helicopter flights in the desert. Iraqi troops dispatched to investigate allegedly came under Israeli airstrikes aimed at protecting the operation.

The reports relate to an incident that took place on March 5 in the desert areas between Karbala, Najaf, and Nukhayb in western Iraq, where Iraqi security forces clashed with unidentified armed groups backed by air support.

Lieutenant General Saad Maan, head of Iraq's Security Media Cell, said told media outlets on Sunday that Iraqi security and military forces engaged “unknown and unauthorized groups supported by air cover” during the incident, leaving one Iraqi serviceman dead and two others wounded.

Maan said Iraqi forces from the Karbala and Najaf operations commands continued sweeping operations across desert regions afterward, including inspections carried out in April and May.

“We did not find during the search operations in April and May any presence of this force or other unauthorized forces,” Maan said, adding that Iraqi security forces continue carrying out their duties and that “there is currently nothing of this kind within our problems or other regions in Iraq.”

He stressed that the incident dates back to March 5 and that “the necessary measures were taken at that time.”

Iraq later filed a complaint to the United Nations over the incident.

Tamimi on Sunday questioned how “hostile forces could enter deep into Iraqi territory without action from security authorities,” calling for an urgent investigation and stressing that “Iraq’s sovereignty and border security are not open to negligence or political deals.”

AFP on the same day cited two security officials as confirming that Israeli forces had established a temporary base at an abandoned airstrip in Iraq’s desert during the war.

One official told AFP that “Israeli forces established a base in an abandoned airstrip, built by Saddam Hussein, in the Najaf desert,” adding that the operation “was in coordination with the US.”

The official said there were no longer forces at the location, though equipment may have remained behind.

Throughout the Iran-Israel war, both the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) repeatedly stressed that Iraq was not part of the conflict and rejected the use of Iraqi territory or airspace by regional actors to carry out attacks.

The Iraqi government does not maintain any official relations with nor indeed recognize the Israeli state. In May 2022, the Iraqi parliament passed a law to criminalize the normalization of ties with Israel with majority vote, with the penalties ranging up to life imprisonment or the death penalty.