Iraq, Syria and now Pakistan: How Iran is at the centre of escalating tensions in West Asia

The Israel-Hamas war surpassed the grim milestone of 100 days earlier in the week. The possibility of the conflict widening seems imminent with each passing day as tensions escalate in West Asia. And at the centre of it is Iran. Iran-backed proxy groups are creating trouble in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, taking on the US military, and attacking shipping lanes in the Red Sea. In the latest provocation, it has struck targets in Pakistan. We take a look at what happened in Pakistan, the possibility of the war spreading and Iran’s interest in the region. Why did Iran hit targets in Pakistan? Two bases of the Baluchi militant group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice) in Pakistan were targeted by missiles on Tuesday. Iran said that it used “precision missile and drone strikes” to destroy two strongholds of the militant group in the Kouh-Sabz area of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province, according to Iran’s state-aligned Tasnim news agency, reports CNN. The militant group said that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had used six attack drones and several rockets to destroy two houses where the children and wives of its fighters lived. In a statement on Telegram, it said that two children were killed in the attack, while two women and a teenage girl were seriously injured. Jaish al Adl had previously mounted attacks on Iranian security forces in the border area with Pakistan, reports Reuters. Last month, Iran accused militants of the group of storming a police station, resulting in the deaths of 11 Iranian police officers in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan, the Iranian state media claims. Jaish al-Adl is known as Jaish al-Dhulm in Iran. It is a separatist militant group that operates on both sides of the border and has previously claimed responsibility for attacks against Iranian targets. Its stated goal is the independence of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province, reports CNN. [caption id=“attachment_13623422” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Iran said it used ‘precision missile and drone strikes,’ to destroy strongholds of the militant group. Representational picture/Reuters[/caption] What has Pakistan said? Pakistan’s foreign ministry said that the attack on its territory killed “two innocent children injuring three girls”. Warning Iran of “serious consequences”, it described the strike as an “unprovoked violation of its airspace by Iran … inside Pakistani territory.” The foreign office expressed concern that the “illegal act” took place despite the existence of several established channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran, adding that a “strong protest has already been lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran”, according to a report in Dawn. “Additionally, the Iranian Charge d’affaires has been called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey our strongest condemnation of this blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and that the responsibility for the consequences will lie squarely with Iran,” it added. But Iran is not going after targets in Pakistan alone. It is the third country after Iran and Syria that has been hit within the last few days.

What do we know about Iran’s strikes in Iraq, Syria? A day before the attack in Pakistan, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out strikes in northern Iraq and Syria. Late on Monday, Iran launched ballistic missiles on what it claimed was a spy base for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad in northern Iraq and “anti-Iran terror groups” in Syria. According to Iranian forces, the missile attack destroyed “one of the main espionage headquarters” of Israel in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. They claimed that this was in response to Israeli attacks that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard commanders and members of the Iranian resistance front. “This headquarters has been the centre for developing espionage operations and planning terrorist acts” in the region and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement Monday. At least four civilians were killed and six others were injured in the attack. [caption id=“attachment_13623452” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Emergency services clear the rubble of the house of Peshraw Dizayi that was hit in Iranian missile strikes in Erbil, Iraq. Dizayi, a prominent local businessman, was killed in one of the Irbil strikes along with members of his family. AP[/caption] Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told CNN that no Mossad-affiliated centres operating in Erbil. “The Iranians don’t want to or cannot attack Israel. They search for victims around them, and so they attack Erbil,” Hussein said, adding that Iraqis are “paying the price” for Iran’s tensions with Israel. Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran, condemning the strikes as a “blatant violation” of sovereignty. The US also said that the attack was “reckless and imprecise”. In another separate development, Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said that they shot three armed drones flying over Ebril airport, where US and other international forces are station, reports Reuters. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also said that it fired ballistic missiles at bases of “anti-Iran terror groups in occupied territories in Syria”. It claimed that the targets were involved in the 3 January twin bombings in Kerman that left more than 90 dead during a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani. The Islamic State (ISIS) had claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Iran since the 1979 revolution. The IRGC said in a statement that it “identified and destroyed” key terror commanders and elements, especially “Daesh (ISIS), in the occupied territories of Syria” by firing several ballistic missiles. [caption id=“attachment_13623492” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Syrians look at an abandoned medical facility in the village of Talteta that was hit by Iranian missiles late Monday night, according to a voluntary rescue group White Helmets. AP[/caption] How Iran is at the centre of escalating tensions in West Asia While Iran has claimed that it does not want to get involved in a wider conflict in West Asia, its actions prove otherwise. Its “Axis of Resistance”, a network of militant outfits, has been attacking Israel and its allies to show support for Palestine. Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon, has been firing missiles into Israel since the Jewish nation launched an offensive in Gaza, killing 15 Israelis, mostly soldiers. At least 150 Hezbollah militants have died in retaliatory airstrikes by Israel. Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been carrying out attacks on vessels in the Red Sea since November. The militant group declared their support for Hamas, saying that they would target any ship travelling to Israel. While the missile and drone attacks were intercepted by US and Israeli countermeasures, the relentless strikes forced America and its allies to retaliate. They launched a irstrikes against sites in Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed group. [caption id=“attachment_13623502” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] This undated photograph released by the US military’s Central Command shows what it described as the vessel that carried Iranian-made missile components bound for Yemen’s Houthi in the Arabian Sea. US Navy SEALs seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry from a ship bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels in a raid that saw two of its commandos go missing. US Central Command via AP[/caption] Since the start of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Iran-backed militias have targeted US forces on the bases in Iraq and Syria, causing injuries to US troops. While Joe Biden has been avoiding being drawn into a regional conflict in West Asia, the provocation continues. Reports suggest that Tehran has accelerated its production of weapons-grade uranium with the US expressing concern over its “nuclear escalation”. Experts say that Iran is encouraging the Houthis and other proxy groups, but it does not want a wider conflict. The whole purpose of the Iranian proxies, American intelligence officials say, is to find a way to punch at Israel and the United States without setting off the kind of war Tehran wants to avoid, according to a report in The New York Times (NYT). An escalation in the conflict would increase costs for the West without risking a wider war, the report quotes US officials as saying. Iran wants to keep the conflict away from its borders. It wants stability at home, as its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is ageing and ailing and unprecedented protests have erupted in recent years. “For the Iranians, it’s been very good for them so far, but it’s getting to a point where it’s becoming very risky… One misstep from one of these proxies, if it hits in the wrong place at the wrong time, we really risk a regional war,” Raiman al-Hamdani, a Yemen analyst who has studied the Iran-Houthi relationship, told NYT. With inputs from agencies