Pakistan retaliates against Iran, Middle East tensions rise

Iranian media said several missiles hit a village in Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan, killing at least nine people, including four children.

Image of people watching news about the war on the border between Iran and Pakistan. Photo: Reuters

New concerns in the Middle East

The tit-for-tat attacks were the most serious cross-border incursions in recent years and have raised alarm bells about growing instability in the Middle East.

However, both sides appear to be keen to contain the situation. Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was committed to maintaining good neighborly relations with Pakistan, but called on Islamabad to prevent the establishment of "terrorist bases" on its soil.

Pakistan also issued a similar statement. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry said: “The sole objective of today’s action is to pursue Pakistan’s national security and interests, which are paramount and inviolable.”

“A number of terrorists were eliminated in the intelligence-based operation,” the ministry said, describing the strikes as “a series of highly coordinated, targeted and precise military strikes against terrorist hideouts.”

Tehran strongly condemned the attacks, saying civilians were killed and summoned Pakistan's charge d'affaires, its most senior diplomat in Iran, for an explanation.

“Information received indicates that four children, three women and two men, all foreigners, were killed in the explosion that occurred in a village,” Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state television.

In Islamabad, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said that caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar will cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and return home.

Which group was attacked and why?

The targets were bases used by the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) and the Baloch Liberation Army, a statement from the Pakistani military said.

Iran said on Tuesday it had struck targets inside Pakistan that it said were bases of Jaish al-Adl (JAA).

People gather near the rubble after a Pakistani military strike on an Iranian village near Saravan, Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran on January 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters

All of the above-mentioned target groups are ethnic Baloch, but it is unclear whether the JAA is affiliated with the other two groups.

The targeted militant groups operate in areas including Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province and Iran's southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province.

The BLF group, which Islamabad attacks in Iran, is waging an armed insurgency against the Pakistani state.

The Jaish al Adl group, which Iran has targeted, is also a nationalist militant group, but with a predominantly Shi'ite Sunni Muslim orientation that Iran sees as a threat.

The group has carried out attacks in Iran targeting the country's powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Hoang Anh (according to Reuters, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/pakistan-tan-cong-tra-dua-iran-cang-thang-trung-dong-tiep-tuc-gia-tang-post281519.html