JERUSALEM, Dec 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama plans to offer Israel a strategic pact designed to fend off any nuclear attack on the Jewish state by Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

Quoting an unnamed American source close to Obama's administration, the Haaretz daily said Washington would pledge under the proposed "nuclear umbrella" to respond to any Iranian nuclear strike against Israel with a U.S. retaliation in kind.

(IsraelNN.com) Last Sunday Israel received a new missile defense system from the U.S., complete with a team of American support personnel that will become the first group of U.S. troops to be stationed permanently in the country. The FBX-T system is based on the latest x-band radar technology, and is designed to provide early detection and warning of incoming missiles such as the Shahab-3 rockets that Iran claims can reach and destroy targets in Israel.

On September 21, more than a dozen aircraft deployed by the United States European Command (EUCOM) arrived at the Nevatim Air Base southeast of Be’er Sheva, carrying the AN/TPY-2 Transportable Radar Surveillance/Forward Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T) system, as well as some 120 American personnel. The team of technicians and advisers, including at least one from the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (M.D.A) will remain in Israel as the support crew for the new system. They represent the first time in Israel’s history that the U.S. military will have a permanent presence in Israel.