The conflict is growing: the purpose of Iran’s strikes on Pakistani territory is explained

Iran has struck “militant bases” in Pakistan in another Middle East hotspot. Islamabad says Iranian strikes have killed two children in an “unprovoked violation” of its airspace, adding to regional instability caused by the Israel-Gaza war.

The Iranian military carried out airstrikes in Pakistan, apparently targeting a Sunni militant group, in the latest sign of a wave of violence sweeping the Middle East and beyond, The Guardian notes.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said two children were killed and three others were injured in what it called an “illegal” airstrike and summoned Tehran’s top diplomat in Islamabad to protest the “unprovoked violation of its airspace.” The Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not provide further details about the strikes, but Pakistani social media accounts said the missile and drone strikes targeted Balochistan province, which lies along the 1,000-kilometer border between the two countries.

In Iran, it was reported that the strikes were carried out on the bases of one of the Sunni militant groups, but references to the attack in the Iranian media quickly disappeared. Iran and Pakistan have long had tense relations, in large part due to the activities of Baloch separatists and other militant groups in the border area, The Guardian recalls. However, this would mean a significant escalation on the territory of a neighbor with nuclear weapons.

The strikes on Pakistan came less than 24 hours after Iranian missile strikes in Syria and Iraq as part of a series of retaliatory strikes against Tehran’s enemies following a double suicide bombing at a cemetery in the city of Kerman on January 3 that killed more than 80 Iranians. The Islamic State (ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia) claimed responsibility for this attack. It is unclear whether Tehran believes the militant group targeted in Pakistan was also involved in the attack, or whether it was simply an attack on enemies to satisfy domestic calls for revenge.

Iran’s response to the attack in Kerman does not appear to have a direct connection to the war in Gaza, but comes at a time when the conflict is already spreading instability throughout the region.

Attacks by Houthi rebels on ships in the Red Sea acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza led the United States and allies to launch airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen for the first time.

The US launched a new attack on the Houthis on Tuesday with anti-ship missiles, the third attack on the Iran-backed group in recent days. In the latest attack on Red Sea shipping, a Greek-owned cargo ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen on Tuesday as it headed toward the Suez Canal. Greek officials said the Zografia was traveling from Vietnam to Israel. There were no reports of casualties.

The Biden administration is expected to announce plans to redesignate the Houthis as designated global terrorists on Wednesday, according to US media reports. As The Guardian recalls, in February 2021, the United States removed the Houthis from its list of both foreign terrorist organizations and designated global terrorists in an effort to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen.

Since the start of the Gaza War, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel that killed hundreds of civilians, Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement has also regularly fired rockets at northern Israel, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have carried out retaliatory strikes in southern Lebanon , sometimes with the help of airstrikes, writes The Guardian.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian met with Pakistan’s acting Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland on Tuesday, but it was unclear what they discussed at the meeting.

Baloch nationalists have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency in Balochistan for more than two decades, which has escalated into a struggle for independence. Iran has long suspected Pakistan of providing sanctuary to insurgents and fomenting instability on Iran’s southeastern border, possibly in coordination with Saudi Arabia, Tehran’s main rival. Baloch militants have also crossed the Iranian border to carry out attacks inside Pakistan. In April 2023, one such attack killed four Pakistani soldiers.

On Monday, Iran fired missiles into northern Syria, saying they targeted bases of the outlawed terrorist group ISIS, and into Iraq, targeting what it said were “Israeli espionage headquarters” and “terrorist groups” near the compound US consulate in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. Iraq on Tuesday called the attacks, which killed several civilians, a “flagrant violation” of Iraqi sovereignty, recalled its ambassador from Tehran and threatened to take Iran to the UN Security Council.