Pakistan carried out drone and missile strikes inside Iran early on Thursday, January 18, in what is seen as retaliation for Iranian strikes on its territory on Tuesday.
Dawn quoted Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry as saying that a “highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision” strike killed a number of terrorists during the operation code named Marg Bar Sarmachar.
However, according to Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency, the attacks on a village near Saravan, the capital of Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchestan, killed refugees. At least nine people — three women, four children, and two men — were killed in the attacks.
Iran condemned the attacks and called the Pakistani charge d’affaires for an explanation on Thursday, Press Tv reported.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, in its statement, claimed that, “the sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest” and it “fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The Iranian attack on Tuesday had targeted what were allegedly bases of the terrorist group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Pakistan had called it a violation of international law and its air space. Jaish al-Adl had claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in Iran’s Rask in December which led to the death of 11 policemen.
In the aftermath of Iran’s strike, Pakistan withdrew its ambassador from Iran and downgraded diplomatic relations. It said it reserved the right to respond to the “illegal Iranian strikes.”
The strikes in Pakistan were part of operations carried out by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Monday and Tuesday. The IRGC claimed that it carried out several strikes inside Iraq and Syria in addition to Pakistan. While the attack on rebel-held areas in Syria was against the Islamic State (IS), the strikes in Iraq’s Erbil were against an alleged Mossad center. The IS had claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in Kerman in January which led to the death of over 100 Iranians.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera, Sayed Mohammad Marandi, a professor in Tehran University claimed that the strikes inside Pakistan were part of attempts to prevent terrorist groups carrying out attacks inside Iran on behalf of Israel.
Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani following the strikes. He pointed out that Jaish al-Adl was working against the interest of both the countries. Both the ministers agreed to exchange information and coordinate their missions against the terrorist groups in the region, Press Tv reported.
After Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes, its Foreign Ministry claimed that it had been coordinating the operations against the terrorist groups in both the countries for a long time with Iran and the lack of action on the information provided had forced it to carry out the strikes on Thursday.
“Iran is a brotherly country and the people of Pakistan have great respect and affection for the Iranian people. We have to always emphasize dialogue and cooperation in confronting common challenges including the menace of terrorism” the foreign ministry said, claiming that, both the countries “will continue to endeavor to find joint solutions” in future as well.
