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← A Long Pattern

American Troops as a Regional Shield

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for each quote below, from Fathom Journal (a British pro-Israel journal) and the Canadian Jewish News, 2017 to 2024, and Israeli television reports of 2024 and 2026.

Long before the 2026 war, pro-Israel strategists wrote in plain language about where American soldiers in the Middle East should be, and what they should be used for: blocking Iran.

2017: keep them there "to block Iran's plans"​

Michael Herzog, a retired Israeli brigadier general who later became Israel's ambassador in Washington, wrote in Fathom Journal in autumn 2017 about Iran's land corridor through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. His first recommendation to Washington and London:

"Carefully examine if and how their existing military assets on the ground, which were originally deployed to fight ISIS, could be used to block Iran's plans, rather than withdrawing them following the defeat of ISIS."

His example was the al-Tanf base in Syria, which he wrote hosted about 150 US special forces and stood in the way of the Iranian corridor (article page). American soldiers sent to fight ISIS were, in his proposal, to stay on as a barrier against Iran.

2018: Israel "mitigates the necessity to send US troops"​

Jonathan Paris, speaking at a Fathom forum in London in March 2018, described the arrangement from the other side: "Still another US partner in the Syria mix is Israel, which provides the US an anchor of stability in the region that mitigates the necessity to send US troops there" (article page). The pitch to Americans is always the same: Israel saves you troops. In 2026 the same Israel called for "a ground component" in Iran and kept its own infantry home.

2020 and 2021: the Iraq bases and the ground war nobody wanted​

After the US killed Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Israeli analyst Meir Masri told the Canadian Jewish News that the United States had about sixty military bases in about fifteen countries around Iran, and that fourteen of Iran's fifteen neighbors were tied to the Americans by a base, an aid deal, or NATO (article page). In 2021, Kyle Orton wrote in Fathom that in the war against ISIS the United States was "unwilling to put its own forces on the ground in any appreciable numbers" (article page). In April 2024 he argued that US troops remaining in Iraq were there "with the intention of protecting" a government he called "a keystone in the IRGC Empire" (article page). The ring of American bases around Iran is the ring that was hit first in 2026: six Army Reserve soldiers killed by an Iranian drone in Kuwait on 1 March; three killed in Jordan in July (The Price So Far).

2024: American soldiers inside Israel​

On 12 October 2024, Israel's N12 reported that, "for the first time," American soldiers would operate ballistic-missile interceptor batteries (THAAD) inside Israel. Journalist Max Blumenthal noted that the Pentagon denied a decision had been made but that the move was under consideration, and called the troops "human tripwires ... precisely what Netanyahu has been angling for."

2026: bases in Israel, infantry for Iran​

On 30 March 2026, senior Israeli officials told Channel 12 that "Israel, for the first time, is planning to propose to the Trump Administration the development of U.S. military bases on its soil, including the construction of new bases and the relocation of existing military bases in countries across the Middle East" (OSINTdefender on X). The same Channel 12 reported, the day before, that Israeli soldiers would not join a US ground operation in Iran (The Channel 12 report).

The line, drawn in one place​

Herzog 2017: keep American soldiers in place to block Iran. Paris 2018: Israel spares you troops. Masri 2020: sixty American bases ring Iran. N12 2024: American soldiers operating Israel's missile defense. Channel 12 2026: build American bases in Israel, and Israel's infantry stays out of Iran. At every step the American role grows and the question of whose soldiers stand in the line of fire is answered the same way.

Status: Michael Herzog is alive. Jonathan Paris is alive. Meir Masri is alive. Kyle Orton is alive. Max Blumenthal is alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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