January-February 1991
U.S. Patriot batteries deploy to Israel (1991)
During the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel to draw it into the conflict and break the U.S.-Arab coalition. The U.S. rushed Patriot air-defense batteries with American crews to Israel within days. It was the first time U.S. ground forces deployed combat units on Israeli soil to fight alongside Israel.
Then
Israel stayed out of the war, the Arab coalition held, and the U.S.-Israel military relationship deepened in public.
Now
Foreign air defense on allied soil became a standard tool of U.S. crisis management in the region, and Patriot exports expanded across the Gulf.
Why this matters now
The current situation runs the same logic in reverse: this time Israel is the supplier, an Arab Gulf state is the host, and the U.S. is the matchmaker.