Iran's Pakistan attack amid joint drills raises eyebrows
Palestinian lives and properties by Israel backed by the US, Iran sprung a surprise by launching missile and drone attacks in its neighbourhood. The Iranian strikes against, what it claimed to be, a «Mossad-affiliated spy base» in Erbil (Iraq) and a «terrorist-affiliated» headquarter in Idlib (Syria) were followed by similar attacks against «terrorists» of Jaish al Adl in Balochistan (Pakistan) on January 16-17.
Out of the three attacks, the most unexpected and baffling was that on the soil of Pakistan that killed two children.
The attack was neither preceded by any effort by the Iranian side to resolve the issue diplomatically nor any acrimonious exchange of statements between the two countries. In fact, the last significant attack by Jaish al Adl, an Iranian separatist group having presence in Pakistan, took place on a police station in Sistan-o-Baluchistan killing 11 policemen a month before the missile attacks.
So, it can't possibly be the trigger for retaliation.
What adds to further confusion is the fact that only a few hours before the missile attacks, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met Anwaar ul haq Kakar, caretaker prime minister of Pakistan, on the sidelines of Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland. Besides, only a day earlier, Iranian and Pakistani navies had conducted a joint naval exercise by deploying missile launchers and warships in the strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
That is why the Iranian foreign minister downplayed the attacks by claiming that Iran respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan and had only targeted Iranian terrorists based on the Pakistani side.
