Iran missile strikes in Pakistan show tension fueled by Israel-Hamas war spreading
Tel Aviv — Tension fueled by the Israel-Hamas war was broadening across the Middle East and beyond Wednesday, as U.S. ally Pakistan condemned its neighbor Iran for launching what Pakistani officials called an unprovoked attack on their territory. Iran said its Revolutionary Guard struck bases of the Sunni Muslim militant group Jaish al-Adl in Pakistan, but Islamabad angrily condemned the attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said two children were killed in the strikes.
A local police officer told CBS News’ Sami Yousafzai that two women injured in the strikes were brought to a regional hospital, along with the bodies of the two slain children, as rescuers sifted through the debris searching for any other victims.
Iran missile strikes in Pakistan
Resident Abdul Baluch told CBS News the strikes hit a village called Sabz Koh, near the Iranian border.
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“We heard the blasts and sound of missiles,” he said, adding that the houses targeted were near his home, and that he had never “seen any kind of military activists” in the area over the last five years.
A spokesperson for the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Tuesday that it was “even more concerning that this illegal act has taken place despite the existence of several channels of communication between Pakistan and Iran,” adding that “Pakistan’s strong protest has already been lodged with the concerned senior official in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran.”
Pakistan later recalled its ambassador from Tehran and expelled the Iranian ambassador in Islamabad.
Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty
The Iranian strikes came just a day after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria, with Tehran claiming those were also against “anti-Iran groups” operating in the region.
Houthis keep attacking ships in Red Sea
Iran’s direct military action against regional foes comes after weeks of attacks by its proxy group in Yemen, the Shiite Houthi rebels, on international commercial shipping. Video has emerged of Houthi militants celebrating — even dancing — aboard cargo ships they have seized off Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea.
The attacks on commercial vessels have continued, disrupting global trade and regional stability, despite strikes launched Friday by the U.S. and British militaries, with other allies, targeting Houthi missile sites in Yemen.
For months the Houthis have attacked the vital Red Sea shipping routes, claiming the drone and missile strikes and seizures are in support of Iran’s other allies, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is currently facing the full might of Israel’s military in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. has been a staunch supporter of Israel’s offensive against Hamas, launched in response to the group’s unprecedented Oct. 7 terror attack. Hamas has long been designated a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.
Last week, U.S. Navy SEALs raided a small vessel that was allegedly headed for the Houthis in Yemen. America’s Central Command said advanced weaponry from Iran was discovered on the boat. Two Navy SEALs fell overboard during the Jan. 11 operation and remained missing on Wednesday.
Hamas-Israel tension spills into Iraq, Syria
In addition to Pakistan and the Red Sea, hostilities have been boiling over in the greater Middle East, with Iran launching attacks this week in Iraq and Syria — including a missile strike that killed four people in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, very close to a still-under-construction U.S. consulate. The U.S. condemned the Iranian strike as “reckless.”
All of the flashpoints show the risk of the war between Israel and Iran’s Hamas allies spiraling further out of control. All of the tension was sparked by the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which Israeli officials say left some 1,200 people dead and saw the Palestinian militants kidnap about 240 others.
The war in Gaza sparked by that attack has killed more than 24,000 people in the small, densely populated Palestinian territory, according to its Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
“My house was bombed and I fled here without bringing anything with me, not even money,” said Gaza resident Youssef Abu Ishaq as he arrived at one of the enclave’s few functioning hospitals. “We need food, bread, and blankets.”
More humanitarian aid of that kind is on the way thanks to a deal brokered between Israel and Hamas on Tuesday. The agreement calls for the delivery of additional aid to Palestinians in exchange for medicine being allowed to reach the roughly 130 Israeli hostages who are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza.
That deal was brokered by Qatar, which was behind a weeklong cease-fire in November that saw the release of about half of the Israeli hostages in exchange for dozens of Palestinian prisoners being freed by Israel. The hope on Wednesday was that the new agreement could lead to another halt in the fighting, and the release of more hostages.
