US FORCES fighting in Iraq have been accused of secretly training in Israel, where they have been taught tactics used over the past four years against Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

A senior Israeli military expert confirmed that elite American troops were regularly trained in Israel.

Tal Tovy, an expert in guerrilla warfare who teaches at Israel’s military staff college, said that US Marines and Army Rangers frequently visited the country on exercise and there was close co-operation on tactics.

He was speaking after The Jerusalem Post reported that some American soldiers serving in Iraq have been trained at the counter-terrorism school in the Adam military base, near Modi’in, outside Jerusalem.

The Israeli Defence Force declined to comment yesterday about co-operation with foreign forces. The American Embassy in Tel Aviv said that from time to time the two countries did conduct joint exercises but denied that there were US forces in Israel at present.

Nevertheless, the allegation will fuel growing suspicions in the Arab world that the Israelis are secretly involved in assisting the Americans in Iraq. The tactics of the two countries’ Armed Forces are regularly compared to each other on Arab news channels and in newspapers across the Middle East. this year Brigadier-General Janis Karpinski, the senior American officer embroiled in the scandal about the mistreatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, said that she had met an Israeli interrogator at an intelligence base in Baghdad.

The American press suggested that Israeli intelligence officers had established a permanent presence in the northern Kurdish region of Iraq.

It has been repeatedly alleged that US commanders have studied and adopted Israeli tactics, particularly the use of air power and armour against insurgents concealed in heavily populated areas.

Many in the Arab world believe Israel was behind the invasion of Iraq. Among Israelis, however, it is a matter of pride that they are able to share their expertise with their closest ally.

The Israelis are building what is being touted as the largest urban warfare training base in the world at Tzeelim, in the Negev desert, and have offered to rent it out for training to foreign troops.

Dr Tovy told The Times: “We are very experienced in guerrilla warfare. There are three areas that the Americans have shown particular interest in: the use of Apache helicopters for targeted killings; urban warfare; and how to conduct large military operations in heavily populated areas. We have a lot of experience in this field.”

Dr Tovy said that when he visited the American military academy at West Point he was closely questioned by officers about Israel’s controversial Operation Defensive Shield, the offensive into the West Bank launched in 2002.

Israel’s military tactics, including use of guided missiles to assassinate militant leaders in Gaza and the use of heavy armour in built-up areas, appear to have been replicated by the Americans in Iraq. US fighter jets and helicopter gunships have been used repeatedly to kill suspected militant leaders in the rebel stronghold of Fallujah, west of Baghdad.

Like Israel, America has used tanks and helicopters in densely populated areas such as Sadr City in Baghdad, and now the holy city of Najaf, to take on rebel gunmen. Deploying heavy armour causes civilian casualties but reduces the risk of injury to soldiers.

Using Israeli-style tactics has not only caused anger in the Arab and Muslim worlds. It has also created strains in relations with the British, who have adopted a far less confrontational approach in their sector of southern Iraq.

A British military source said: “There have been disagreements between American and British commanders in Iraq over tactics. That is one reason the British never went to Baghdad and why the offer to send British troops to Najaf was never taken up.”

British forces have focused on maintaining good relations with the local communities in an attempt to isolate the insurgents. The British tactic has come in for private criticism from American officers and some Iraqis, who have accused the British forces of being too soft. They claim that the failure of the British to impose their authority has created a power vacuum in southern cities such as Basra and al-Amarah that has been exploited by Muslim militants, insurgents and ordinary criminals.

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