After Iran carried out strikes in Pakistan late Tuesday, Pakistan retaliated launching missile strikes into Iran killing nine people. Pakistan said that its strikes had hit “terrorist hideouts” in the Sistan-Baluchestan province of south-eastern Iran, however, Iran condemned the attack citing that it killed three women, two men, and four children who were not Iranian. The already high tensions in the Middle East are starting to compound with the overlapping crisis.
Along with this strike, the compounding effects include an already well-known fight between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. There is also the matter of two groups that are already being drawn into the Israel-Hamas conflict. Namely Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, and the Houthi rebels. Hezbollah, or The Party of God, is based in Lebanon and also runs a political party that has significant influence. There are now growing concerns that not only will Hezbollah get pulled in to aid Hamas, but that they are already part of the fight, although there is no direct evidence.
Along with this, Houthi rebels that support Hamas in Yemen have already attempted to hit US ships. Although seemingly unrelated, the US is allies with Israel and it looks like the strikes against the US will only grow worse. President Biden not only acknowledged the Houthi rebels as terrorists but said the US would continue strikes against Houthi rebels.
Since the recent Pakistani strike against Iran, Pakistan is attempting to avoid further escalation through diplomacy. However, Iran has refused to apologize for lower tensions and although Tehran, the capital of Iran, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, profess to have close ties, the regular tension between their frontier would suggest otherwise.
