Israel Hit Iraq Weapons Depot
By Felicia Schwartz in Tel Aviv and Nancy A. Youssef in Washington
Aug. 24, 2019
Israel recently struck a weapons depot in Iraq it believed Iran was using to move weapons to Syria, expanding its campaign to target Tehran's military presence in the Middle East, a U.S. official said.
The July 19 strike on an arms cache north of Baghdad appears to be the first time Israel has operated in Iraq since it destroyed the country's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981. It marks a new step in Israel's campaign to stop Iran from entrenching troops and weapons close to its borders, escalating an effort that has also included bombing campaigns in Syria.
Israeli responsibility for the July attack provides an explanation for one in a series of mysterious explosions and fires at Iraqi militia bases in recent weeks. The militias, which receive support from Iran, have blamed Israel and the U.S. for the blasts and forced the Iraqi government to launch investigations and limit access to the country's airspace.
U.S. officials wouldn't say whether Israel notified them before the strike and said some of the recent explosions could have been caused by poorly stored munitions that Iran has been moving into the country.
"Would any of this be happening if the Iranians were not pouring these weapons into Iraq?" a senior administration official said.
A U.S. military spokesman denied responsibility for any of the fires and blasts. Israel's military declined to comment.
In a joint statement Thursday, Iraq's president, prime minister and speaker of parliament said investigations were ongoing into the incidents.
American military officials have said they are concerned that Israel's expanding campaign could spark Iranian reprisals on American forces in Iraq. Israel has been eyeing Iraq warily since 2018, carrying out strikes closer to Iraq's border with Syria that target militias that work with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel believes Iran is trying to establish a secure supply line running through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon, where the Tehran-allied militia, Hezbollah, threatens Israel.
Israel is specifically concerned about the spread of Iran's long-range missiles and antiaircraft defense systems. Iran's military, and the militias it supports, have established bases across Iraq and Syria to help fight Islamic State and groups opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"I don't give Iran immunity anywhere. Iran is a country, power, who has declared her desire to annihilate Israel. She is trying to establish bases against us everywhere. In Iran itself, in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 9 Thursday.
Iranian leaders insist they are in Iraq and Syria at the invitation of the respective governments and maintain that their country's presence there is to deter attacks on Iranian soil.
"The main perpetrator of terrorism, war and slaughter in the region is the occupying regime of Israel," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last week in a cabinet meeting, according to Iran's semiofficial Mehr news agency.
Expanding its bombing campaign beyond Syria to Iraq is "a dangerous game" for Israel, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
The strike could inflame tensions with militias who possess surface-to-surface missiles that could target Israel, and who also have other ways of retaliating, Mr. Guzansky said. However, striking Iraq could deter Iran and hurt its ability to use its neighbor as a base, he added. "You can show Iran you have force-projection capability very near its borders," Mr. Guzansky said.
The explosions and fires at militia bases have roiled Iraq, the most recent of which took place this week at an ammunition depot near Balad.
On Friday, Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed al-Hakim summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires to discuss recent developments and stressed that Iraq is not an arena for score-settling.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella for dozens of militias that are part of the Iraqi security apparatus, said the U.S. had brought Israeli drones into the country from Azerbaijan to target the militias.
--Isabel Coles in Baghdad and Sune Engel Rasmussen in Beirut contributed to this article.