Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Did you know Rossbrook House provides free programs, activities, and daily meals to children and youth? Help support Winnipeg children & youth. Donate to Rossbrook House programs. rossbrookhouse.ca/donate or call 204.949.4092 TOP NEWS A3 SATURDAY AUGUST 3, 2024 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM U.S. on war footing in Middle East T HE U.S. military is repositioning assets and moving additional de- fensive capabilities into the Mid- dle East to defend against a potential attack on Israel by Iran, U.S. officials said. The moves come after Iranian Su- preme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khame- nei and Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah vowed to retaliate after the killing this week of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and a senior Hezbol- lah commander, Fuad Shukr. Haniyeh was assassinated in a braz- en attack at a residence in Tehran se- cured by the country’s vaunted Islam- ic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel has not claimed responsibility, but U.S. officials privately acknowledge it was behind the killing. Washing- ton was not apprised of the operation beforehand and had no role in it, offi- cials have said. Shukr was killed in an Israeli air- strike in a Beirut suburb in retalia- tion for an attack last weekend in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed several children while they played on a soccer field. The events have brought the region closer to full-blown conflict than per- haps at any point since the Gaza war began 10 months ago with a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas. Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and a group of militias in Iraq and Syria all receive weapons and training from Iran, part of a vast anti-Israel, an- ti-U.S. network Tehran has supported for years. U.S. officials have revealed little about how they are preparing for the possibility of an attack, but the White House said Thursday night that Presi- dent Joe Biden had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya- hu and affirmed his commitment to Israeli security “against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terror- ist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.” “The president discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, to include new defensive U.S. military deployments,” said a brief statement summarizing the two leaders’ call. U.S. officials at both the Pentagon and White House declined to elabor- ate on what those defensive deploy- ments entail, but the U.S. military has a broad array of aircraft, ballistic missile defenses and warships in the region. On Friday, a U.S. official familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said that the air- craft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and at least five other warships had relocated in the past two days from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, leaving it off Iran’s shores but moving in the direction of Israel if they sail west around Yemen toward the Red Sea. Houthi militants in Yemen in recent months have launched numerous at- tacks on commercial vessels that use the vital shipping route, and on Israel itself, including a deadly drone attack that sneaked past Israeli air defenses and struck a building in Tel Aviv last month. Israel responded with a series of airstrikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The recent bloodshed follows a sprawling drone and missile attack by Iran on Israel in April in which the U.S. military intervened, taking down numerous drones and missiles as Is- raeli forces intercepted others. Iran launched that attack after an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria killed two Iranian generals and other Iranian military personnel. The rising tensions raise the pros- pect that the Pentagon could respond again in similar fashion. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Biden after the president’s commitment to Netanyahu and will be ordering several moves in the coming days, spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Friday. Austin said the same to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday morning, she said. Among the options available are fighter jets aboard the Theodore Roosevelt, and the naval destroyers nearby, including the USS Daniel In- ouye, USS Russell, USS Cole, USS Laboon and USS Michael Murphy. The destroyer USS John S. McCain is also in the region, remaining in the Persian Gulf as the other American warships have moved, said the U.S. of- ficial familiar with the repositioning. Five other American warships are in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and could assist Israel if called upon. They include the USS Wasp, USS Oak Hill, USS New York, USS Bulkeley and USS Roosevelt. The Bulkeley and the Roosevelt are destroyers with offensive and de- fensive ballistic missile capabilities, while the other three form the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, a three- ship team of more than 4,000 U.S. Marines and sailors that includes Marine Corps fighter jets, an infan- try battalion and other combat forces from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The Pentagon also could reposition Air Force fighter jets closer to Israel to assist. In April, two F-15 fighter squadrons were deployed nearby from the United States and Britain, shooting down numerous drones. Those movements were not disclosed in advance. — The Washington Post Moving military assets to protect Israel as Iran, Hezbollah threaten retaliation DAN LAMOTHE HEIDI LEVINE / THE WASHINGTON POST A billboard in the Israeli city of Givatayim on Friday displays portraits of Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif (right) and Ismail Haniyeh, with slogans in Hebrew that read ‘Eliminated.’ MOHAMMAD SAJJAD / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Protests to condemn the killing of Ismail Haniyeh broke out Friday in Peshawar, Pakistan. ST. THERESA POINT AFFECTED BY WILDFIRES MEMBERS of another Manitoba First Nation have been forced to leave their homes due to smoke from wildfires. St. Theresa Point First Nation is the latest community to be affected by 70 wildfires burning in the province, the Manitoba govern- ment said in its latest fire bulletin released Friday. The community of Marcel Colomb First Nation remains under evacuation, while some residents of St. Theresa Point, God’s Lake First Nation, Manto Sipi Cree Nation, Wasagamack First Nation and Red Sucker Lake First Nation have left their homes due to smoke. Manitoba has battled a total of 191 wildfires this year. “Lightning and human-caused fires con- tinue to persist with no significant precipi- tation in the short-term forecast,” the fire bulletin said. Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick are assisting Manitoba in battling wildfires here. The province continues to focus on pro- tecting Manitoba Hydro infrastructure and the Bell communication tower which services the Island Lake area, the bulletin said. VACANT JARVIS AVENUE BUILDING BURNS A vacant commercial building on Jarvis Avenue caught fire Thursday evening. Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews raced to the empty two-storey building on the 700 block of Jarvis, near Arlington Street, at about 8:30 p.m. Firefighters found smoke coming from the building, but got inside and beat back the flames by about 9 p.m. Crews found no one inside and no one was reported hurt. The fire department does not yet know what caused the blaze or the extent of the damage. TEAM HEALTH CARE FOR THE NORTH THE province says it is expanding the service of health-care teams into northern Manitoba. The Manitoba government is providing $525,000 to launch My Health Team in The Pas, it said in a news release. My Health Teams are networks of health professionals working together to provide patient care. The team in The Pas will have a nurse and a social worker specializing in mental health and addictions medicine to support an ex- pansion of the mental health and addictions services being offered at the Beatrice Wilson Health Centre. It will be the first My Health Team in the Northern Health Region and the 15th team operating in the province. The addition of The Pas team is an oppor- tunity to build new partnerships, bridge the divide between health services in the north and provide more co-ordinated care for people living in the region, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in the release. IN BRIEF Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara ;