US to boost military presence in Mideast, sending fighter jet squadron and keeping carrier in region

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US to boost military presence in Mideast, sending fighter jet squadron and keeping carrier in region

2024-08-03 07:10 Last Updated At：07:20

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard U.S. troops.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday evening.

The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call Thursday afternoon, Biden discussed new U.S. military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. In April, U.S. forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.

U.S. leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. Iran also has threatened to respond after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur was killed in Beirut.

Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Austin is ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but scheduled to come home later this summer. That decision suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep a carrier consistently in the region as a deterrent against Iran at least until next year.

The Pentagon did not say where the fighter jet squadron was coming from or where it would be based in the Middle East. A number of allies in the region are often willing to base U.S. military forces but don’t want it made public.

The Pentagon has options to provide additional land-based ballistic missile defense, such as the Patriot or the terminal high altitude area defense, known as THAAD, both of which launch interceptor missiles from specialized trailer-based mobile launching systems. The Pentagon did not identify what system it would be deploying to augment defenses in the region.

The White House in a statement said Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”

Earlier Friday, Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that moves were in the works. She said Austin “will be directing multiple” force movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for U.S. troops in the region.

Military and defense officials have been considering a wide array of options, from additional ships and fighter aircraft squadrons to added air defense systems or unmanned weapons. In many cases the U.S. does not provide details because host nations are very sensitive about the presence of additional U.S. forces and don’t want those movements made public.

It’s unclear what new ships would move to the Middle East.

The U.S. has had a consistent warship presence there and in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, including two Navy destroyers, the USS Roosevelt and the USS Bulkeley, as well as the USS Wasp and the USS New York. The Wasp and the New York are part of the amphibious ready group and carry a Marine expeditionary unit that could be used if any evacuation of U.S. personnel is required.

In addition, a U.S. official said that two U.S Navy destroyers that are currently in the Middle East will be heading north up the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean Sea. At least one of those could linger in the Mediterranean if needed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.

Suicides and attempts fall in health systems implementing the 'Zero Suicide Model,' study finds

2025-04-07 23:03 Last Updated At：23:10

Health care systems can reduce suicides through patient screening, safety planning and mental health counseling, a new study suggests, an important finding as the U.S. confronts it 11th leading cause of death.

The “Zero Suicide Model” was developed in 2001 at Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, where the focus on people considering suicide included collaborating with patients to reduce their access to lethal means such as firearms and then following up with treatment.

The approach made a difference, and for all of 2009, the health system saw no suicides among patients. The researchers then studied what happened when a different health system, Kaiser Permanente, adopted the program in four locations from 2012 through 2019.

Suicides and suicide attempts fell in three of the locations, while the fourth maintained a low rate of suicides and attempts. Suicide attempts were tracked in electronic health records and insurance claims data. Suicides were measured using government death records.

Reductions varied and reached up to 25%, said lead author Brian Ahmedani, of Henry Ford Health.

“Over the course of the year, that’s up to 165 to 170 suicide attempts that were prevented at these participating health care systems,” Ahmedani said.

The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, shows the model works, said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University public health professor who studies suicide.

Prior research has shown that nearly everyone who dies by suicide is seen by a health care provider in the year before their death, Keyes said. Many doctor's offices have started asking patients whether they've thought about harming themselves.

“We are coming into contact with people who are at high risk for suicide. If we don’t ask them, we don’t know,” said Keyes who was not involved in the new study.

Grants from the National Institute of Mental Health funded the research.

“Complex health problems like suicide cannot be challenged effectively without federal leadership,” said Mike Hogan, who led mental health systems in Connecticut, Ohio and New York, and chaired President George W. Bush’s commission on mental health in 2002 and 2003.

“This is a very important research report, confirming that reducing suicide among people in health systems is possible,” Hogan said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.