This was obvious back in June last year, but I only dared hint at the possibility, even though videos of Israeli Air Force heavy planes flying low near the Syria-Iraq border should have given the game away (they were not tankers). There are vast areas of Iraq where there is nothing but silent, empty desert for 50 miles in any direction. Perfect for hiding a temporary airbase. There were many mysteries around the first day of the Twelve Day War. The IRGC no doubt has agents in Israel monitoring the tempo of IAF movements, and they certainly do in Syria and Jordan. How did Israel manage to get almost the entire air force to Iran for that massive initial decapitation strike without any alarm bells ringing, while maintaining total surprise? It always seemed likely that the tip of the spear arrived over Tehran from somewhere else. Israel couldn’t have scrambled a large part of its air force and sent it towards Iran without the IRGC noticing. It seemed like the obvious play for the IAF to set up a forward operating base and an extemporised airfield there, as it would vastly increase the possible operational tempo. Perhaps some OSINT experts will now scour the vast deserts of Syria and Iraq and find the site... Pretty mad. One day there is an unassuming-looking Bedouin encampment 50 miles from the nearest paved road, then come the cargo planes, and then the jets, rearming and refueling, and nobody knew...
