During the British Mandate, John Bagot Glubb established a post at the well of Nukhayb to allow the Iraqi government to control its western deserts.

[4]: 342  Throughout 1929, sections of the Royal Air Force Armoured Cars served outpost duty in Nukhayb.

[6] In September 2011, 22 Shia pilgrims en route from Damascus to Karbala were stopped at a fake checkpoint near Nukhayb, and then killed by gunmen affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq.

[7][8] In another false checkpoint attack, 14 Iraqi border guards were killed by Islamic State militants in June 2013.

[9] Reports in summer of 2014 indicated that the Iraqi Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) clashed in the town, with government troops "fleeing" towards Karbala.