The Secret U.S. Command Center Hiding in Israel
For the first time, American officers are stationed deep within the Kirya, managing "Operation Lion's Roar" alongside the IDF in a level of synchronization never before seen in military history.
The U.S. Army has set up a dedicated command center inside the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, staffed entirely by American personnel, from which they are managing operations against Iran. Walla News has learned that the center was established at the start of Operation "Roaring Lion."
Even before the opening strikes on Iran were carried out, American officers at the base were participating as partners in situation assessments, including at the IDF Chief of Staff level, to tighten coordination between Israel and the U.S. in their joint campaign against Iran.
Currently, more than a thousand American soldiers and specialists are stationed in Israel, manning both joint and separate coordination cells. These cells operate in Israel and the United States, including Israeli officers filling positions on American soil and coordinate everything from strategic operational concepts to real-time intelligence and target syncing, down to daily mission execution.
Senior IDF officials refer to the Iran war internally as "the war in English," Walla News has learned, reflecting the unprecedented level of operational synchronization between the two militaries. Thousands of coordination calls take place daily. According to sources in the IDF Planning Directorate that spoke to Walla, more than 50% of senior officers' operational discussions are now held with their American counterparts, on a shared war clock to prevent miscommunication.
The groundwork for the campaign was laid when the IDF Chief of Staff made an urgent trip on January 30th, organized in under 48 hours, to explore the possibility of a war that both militaries would begin, sustain, and conclude together, with political authorization from both sides.
The coordination numbers are striking: between 4,000 and 5,000 calls take place daily across all levels, from the Chief of Staff down to field ranks. The IDF has also switched to operating on "Zulu time" (UTC) to eliminate time zone gaps. The personal relationship between the two military chiefs, particularly between the IDF Chief of Staff and CENTCOM commander, has been described to Walla as "nothing short of remarkable," and includes visits to each other's private homes and daily calls.