Dhaka, May 18 -- Israel secretly operated two covert military bases in Iraq's western desert for well over a year, with preparations beginning as far back as late 2024, The New York Times reports.

An Israeli outpost in Iraq had earlier been reported by The Wall Street Journal, an American newspaper.

Iraqi officials later told the Times there was a second undisclosed base, also in the western desert.

The bases came to light partly through a deadly incident on Mar 3, when Awad al-Shammari, 29, set off from a Bedouin encampment near the town of Al-Nukhaib on what his cousin Amir al-Shammari described as a routine grocery run.

Hours later, witnesses saw his truck return in flames, riddled with bullets, a helicopter chasing it down until i...