The US battery at Rishon Letzion, just outside Tel Aviv, was stowed two days after another US-Israeli base in Jaffa to the south was stood down, US and Israeli officials said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the US troops would be leaving Israel this week, following the fall of Baghdad to coalition forces and toppling of the regime of Saddam Hussein, which attacked Israel with Scud missiles in the 1991 Gulf War.

The missile shield, which combined US Patriot batteries with Israel's own state-of-the-art Arrow missiles, was set up in the weeks leading up the US-British invasion of Iraq last month.

Israelis were told last week to dismantle sealed rooms they had prepared against chemical attacks and stop carrying government-issue gas masks whenever they left their homes.

An Israeli air force official was quoted by the daily Maariv Sunday as saying, "the cooperation produced a common language, improved our capabilities and is meaningful in terms of the future."

No Iraqi missiles were fired at Israel during the US-led lightning war on Baghdad.

SPACE.WIRE