Pakistan says it doesn’t want to escalate Iran dispute
Pakistan says it doesn’t want to escalate Iran dispute/node/2444506/world
Pakistan says it doesn’t want to escalate Iran dispute
Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees Pakistan activists protest in Lahore on January 19, 2024, after Iran launched an airstrike in Pakistan's south-west Baluchistan province. The United Nations and the United States appealed for restraint on January 18 after Iran and Pakistan traded deadly air strikes on militant targets on each other's territory (AFP)
Pakistan says it doesn’t want to escalate Iran dispute
Pakistan to take broad security review
Islamabad not interested in escalation, Pakistan tells Turkiye
Updated 19 January 2024
Reuters
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Friday it did not want to escalate a standoff with Iran, as Islamabad’s top civilian and military leadership gathered to review the situation after both countries exchanged strikes on militant bases on each other’s territory.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar has begun a meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee, with all the military services chiefs in attendance, a source in the prime minister’s Office told Reuters.
The meeting aims at a “broad national security review in the aftermath of the Iran-Pakistan incidents,” Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said. Kakar cut short a visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos and flew home on Thursday.
The tit-for-tat strikes by the two countries are the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years and have raised alarm about wider instability in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7.
However, both sides have already signalled a desire to cool tensions, although they have had a history of rocky relations.
“Pakistan has no interest or desire in escalation,” the country’s Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani said in a telephone call with his Turkish counterpart.
Iran said Thursday’s strikes killed nine people in a border village on its territory, including four children. Pakistan said the Iranian attack on Tuesday killed two children.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the two nations to exercise maximum restraint. The US also urged restraint although President Joe Biden said the clashes showed that Iran is not well liked in the region.
Islamabad said it hit bases of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front and Baloch Liberation Army, while Tehran said its drones and missiles struck militants from the Jaish al Adl (JAA) group.
The militant groups that were attacked operate in an area that includes Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan and Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province. Both are restive, mineral-rich and largely underdeveloped.
Insurgency
The groups struck by Islamabad have been waging an armed insurgency for decades against the Pakistani state, including attacks against Chinese citizens and investments in Balochistan.
The JAA, which Iran attacked, is also an ethnic militant group, but with Sunni Islamist leanings seen as a threat by Iran, which is mainly Shiite. The group, which has had links to Islamic State, has carried out attacks in Iran against its powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Against the backdrop of the war in Gaza, Iran and its allies have been flexing their muscles in the region. This week Iran also launched strikes on Syria against what it said were Islamic State sites, and Iraq, where it said it had struck an Israeli espionage center.
Inside Pakistan, civilian leaders came together to throw their support behind the military despite a deeply divided political arena in the buildup to national elections next month.
Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a candidate for his party for prime minister, and the party of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, considered an electoral frontrunner in the polls, said Pakistan had the right to defend itself but called for dialogue with Iran moving ahead.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan also condemned Iran, but called the strikes on Pakistan a failure of the caretaker government brought in to oversee the elections.
The PTI “seeks an immediate explanation from the unconstitutional, illegal, unrepresentative and unelected government for its complete failure to safeguard the integrity, security and defense of Pakistan,” it said in a statement.
France’s Marine Le Pen ‘will never forgive’ herself for expelling father
Jean-Marie Le Pen declared in 1987 that the Nazi gas chambers used to exterminate Jews are “just a detail in the history of World War II”
Updated 21 sec ago
AFP
PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said she will never forgive herself for expelling her father Jean-Marie Le Pen from her party, after he died last week aged 96.
Nicknamed “the devil of the Republic” by opponents, Jean-Marie Le Pen was often openly racist, made no secret of anti-Semitic views, for which he received criminal convictions, and boasted of torturing prisoners during the war against Algeria.
Marine Le Pen took over as head of the National Front (FN) in 2011 but rapidly took steps toward making the party an electable force, renaming it the National Rally (RN) and embarking on a policy known as dediabolization (de-demonization).
She slung her father out of the party for his anti-Semitic views in 2015. But the pair had reconciled in recent years.
“I will never forgive myself for this decision, because I know it caused him immense pain,” he told the Journal du dimanche (JDD) newspaper in an interview published on its website late Sunday.
“This decision was one of the most difficult of my life. And until the end of my life, I will always ask myself the question: ‘could I have done this differently?’,” she said.
Jean-Marie Le Pen declared in 1987 that the Nazi gas chambers used to exterminate Jews are “just a detail in the history of World War II.”
In 2014, he said of Patrick Bruel, a Jewish singer critical of Le Pen, that he would be part of “a batch we will get next time.”
Addressing such remarks, Marine Le Pen said: “It’s somewhat unfair to judge him solely on the basis of these controversies.”
After his long political career, “it is inevitable to have subjects that arouse controversy,” she argued, while saying it was “unfortunate” that Jean-Marie Le Pen “got bogged down in these provocations.”
The interview marked a rare insight from Marine Le Pen into her relationship with her father, who was buried on Saturday in a quiet family ceremony in his home region of Brittany in western France.
Marine Le Pen, who stood three times for the Elysee and is likely preparing another run in 2027, is extremely discreet about her private and family life.
News magazine Paris Match posted a picture of Marine Le Pen in tears on being informed of the news of her father’s death, but deleted the image following protests from the RN.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s death was announced to AFP on Tuesday in a statement signed “Le Pen Family.”
But Marine Le Pen, who was on a plane taking her back from the cyclone-ravaged French island of Mayotte to mainland France, only learned of the news afterwards, during a stopover in Nairobi.
Some French media have interpreted this as a sign of conflict within her family and with her two sisters Marie-Caroline and Yann.
“At the time, I didn’t believe it (his death). Then... knowing that he was in very fragile health, I called my sister to find out what was going on. And she was the one who told me,” she said.
Zelensky says discussed idea of Western troops in Ukraine with Macron
Updated 6 min 11 sec ago
AFP
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday and discussed the idea of Western “contingents” being deployed to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader did not say whether he was talking about the West sending combat troops or peacekeepers as part of a settlement to end the nearly three-year war with Russia.
“Today I spoke with the president of France. It was a rather long and detailed conversation. We discussed defense support — various forms of defense, arms packages for Ukraine,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
“We also discussed the deployment of partner contingents and the training of our military,” he added.
Macron has floated the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine before, including last month when he and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk discussed the possibility of stationing peacekeepers there in the event of a ceasefire.
Moscow accelerated its advances in Ukraine last year, as Kyiv’s overstretched army suffered from exhaustion and a lack of manpower.
US President-elect Donald Trump has promised to bring a swift end to the fighting when he enters office next week, raising fears in Ukraine that it will be forced to make major territorial concessions in exchange for peace.
Several Daesh fighters killed in Somalia’s Puntland state
“The security forces are advancing onto key hideouts of the terrorists to flush them out”
Updated 15 min 49 sec ago
AFP
MOGADISHU: Somali security forces said they killed several Daesh fighters and seized eight terrorist outposts during ongoing military operations in the semi-autonomous Puntland region.
Daesh has a relatively small presence in Somalia compared to the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, but experts have warned of growing activity.
A United Nations counter-terrorism official last year warned of increased attacks by Daesh affiliates in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Somali military officials said Monday’s operation in the northern province was centered around the Cal Miskat mountains in the Bari region.
“The security forces took control of eight Daesh military outposts including a major one in the Cal Miskat mountains; several gunmen including foreign fighters had been killed in the military operations” the Puntland army said in a statement.
“The army shot down around nine drones loaded with explosives which Daesh tried to attack and detonate on the security forces during the fighting,” it said.
“The security forces are advancing onto key hideouts of the terrorists to flush them out.”
According to Ahmed Rage, one of the military commanders in the area, heavy fighting was underway as the Daesh “militias took positions inside a cave in the mountain,” but he added that the army was making “progress and continues to advance onto the stronghold positions.”
According to experts and officials, Daesh in Somalia is run by Abdul Qadir Mumin, a Puntland native.
“He is the most important person, the most powerful one, he is the one controlling the global Daesh network,” said Tore Hamming from the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR).
What is behind the resurgence of vehicular-ramming terror attacks?
Bollards and urban design changes reduce VAW risks but aren't foolproof — a multi-layered approach is essential, says counterterrorism expert
Geofencing and blockchain forensics are emerging tools to track suspicious transactions and block vehicles from high-risk areas
Updated 27 min 15 sec ago
GABRIELE MALVISI
LONDON: Vehicles have a long history as tools of terror, but their use has surged in recent years, becoming a preferred method for attackers seeking to cause mass casualty events, creating headaches for security agencies.
On Jan. 1, at approximately 3:15 p.m. local time, a Ford pickup truck plowed into a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. The FBI has classified the attack as terrorism.
The driver, identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a Texas native, was found to have a Daesh flag inside the vehicle. Before he was shot dead by police, Jabbar recorded videos referencing his divorce and how he joined Daesh earlier in the summer, authorities revealed.
Initially believed to have acted alone, investigators said on Monday they were pursuing leads related to his recent travels to Egypt, Canada, and several US cities.
On the same day as the New Orleans attack, another incident took place in Las Vegas, Nevada, when a Tesla Cybertruck packed with explosives burst into flames outside the Trump International Hotel.
The perpetrator, Matthew Livelsberger, a 37-year-old Green Beret and highly decorated soldier from Colorado Springs, refrained from labeling his actions as terrorism.
A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside President-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on Jan. 1. (AFP)
In notes discovered by authorities, Livelsberger, who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, described the act as a “wake-up call” rather than a terrorist attack. Despite this, the method — the use of a vehicle as a weapon — was a common feature.
Earlier in December, a rented black BMW SUV was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, central Germany, killing six and injuring almost 300. The suspect, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, a German citizen of Saudi origin, was arrested at the scene.
While his social media history revealed anti-Islam and anti-immigration remarks, German authorities are continuing to search for a motive, emphasizing that he appeared to have acted alone.
While these incidents may seem unrelated, they again share a critical commonality: the weapon of choice.
“While accessibility is a key factor, vehicles also appeal to terrorists for strategic and technological reasons,” Danielle Cosgrove, a member of the Counterterrorism Group at the Atlantic Council, told Arab News.
“Their widespread availability and ability to blend into myriad environments allow attackers to operate under the radar,” she said, adding that platforms like peer-to-peer car rental services — including Turo, which was used by both US attackers — coupled with cryptocurrency payments, have made it easier for attackers to rent vehicles anonymously, avoiding traditional paper trails.
An artist lights candles at a memorial on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Getty Images/AFP)
Since the turn of the century, terrorism has shaped global debates and drastically influenced government policies and budgets. According to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, the US alone — by far the largest spender — allocated around $8 trillion to the global war on terror between 2001 and 2022.
Despite this immense expenditure, the number of “vehicle-as-a-weapon,” or VAW, attacks has risen. More than 40 such incidents have occurred globally in recent years, although the exact figure varies due to inconsistent reporting and regional definitions.
A 2019 study by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University found that the majority of these attacks took place in Israel and the West Bank.
FASTFACTS
• Vehicle-as-a-weapon attacks have surged globally, with more than 40 incidents in recent years targeting crowded areas.
• Groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda promote vehicle attacks for their accessibility, ease of use, and high casualty potential.
• Experts advocate AI surveillance, stricter rental policies, and smart urban designs to prevent future vehicle-based attacks.
“Vehicle-based attacks remain prevalent because they are able to exploit gaps in both physical security and digital infrastructure,” Cosgrove said.
She explained that while “modern counterterrorism efforts have become highly effective at identifying organized plots, lone-wolf terrorists — often radicalized online — pose a different kind of challenge.”
Although terrorist groups began using ramming attacks in the 1990s, calls for such attacks intensified a decade later. In 2010, Al-Qaeda encouraged its followers through its magazine, Inspire, to use vehicles to “mow down the enemies of Allah.”
A car drives through the annual Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. (CCTV Video)
The tactic — propelled by the rise of online forums and propaganda networks offering tactical guidance, including detailed step-by-step instructions — gained momentum years later, as groups like Daesh and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula publicly advocated for vehicle-based attacks, recommending four-wheel-drive pickup trucks for their strength and effectiveness in targeting crowded places such as markets and public events.
“Beyond logistical ease, vehicles create mass casualties in crowded areas and generate widespread media attention, aligning with terrorists’ goals of fear and disruption,” Cosgrove said.
In one of the deadliest VAW attacks in history, in July 2016, more than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured when a man drove a 19-ton truck through a crowd gathered to watch Bastille Day fireworks in Nice, southern France, before the driver was shot dead by police at the scene.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, calling it a “special operation using a truck” carried out by one of its “soldiers” — Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian man with French residency status.
However, despite a 2022 French court sentencing eight individuals for aiding the attack, authorities found no concrete links between the perpetrator and the extremist group. The case highlighted what officials called “the extreme difficulty of the fight against terrorism.”
“The biggest challenge in spotting these attacks before they happen lies in identifying intent rather than capability,” said Cosgrove, explaining that vehicles, being easily accessible and requiring limited training or skill, allow attackers to “operate under the radar.”
She added that the “rise of AI-driven radicalization also complicates early intervention, as lone wolves often operate outside of traditional terrorist networks in spite of ideological backing.”
People attend a commemoration after the Christmas market car-ramming attack in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. (AFP)
While Daesh has claimed many VAW attacks in the US and Europe — where access to firearms is more restricted — authorities have struggled to establish concrete links beyond ideological inspiration. Regardless of the motives, such attacks have proven extremely difficult to prevent.
Following a wave of vehicle ramming incidents between 2014 and 2017, many cities implemented urban design changes, such as installing barriers and bollards. Yet, Cosgrove says these measures provide only limited reassurance.
“To mitigate these risks, cities and countries should adopt a multi-layered approach,” she said.
This includes artificial-intelligence-powered surveillance to flag anomalies such as erratic driving or rapid vehicle rentals under different aliases, stricter regulations for rental platforms such as “know your customer” policies, geofencing, smart urban design to limit access to high-risk areas, and blockchain forensics to track suspicious transactions tied to vehicle rentals or extremist financing.
However, with the rapid advance of technologies like self-driving cars, Cosgrove says authorities must act swiftly to address potential vulnerabilities. “Self-driving cars introduce both risks and opportunities,” she said.
Police secured the area where a car exploded in Las Vegas. (Getty Images/AFP)
“On one hand, autonomous vehicles could be hijacked digitally, turning them into remotely controlled weapons. On the other hand, self-driving technology also presents opportunities for prevention,” allowing autonomous technology to be programmed with safeguards like geofencing to block entry into pedestrian zones or high-risk areas.
“The key challenge will be cybersecurity. As autonomous vehicles become more widespread, policymakers ought to prioritize regulations to close vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
“Strengthening digital security, enforcing smarter regulations, and designing urban defenses must go hand in hand to address both physical and digital vulnerabilities in the fight against terrorism in a digital age.”
China says fishing vessel hijacked off Somalia ‘freed’
Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast
Updated 13 January 2025
AFP
MOGADISHU: A Chinese-owned fishing vessel hijacked off the Somali coast in November has been set free with its 18-member crew, the Chinese Embassy in Somalia said Monday.
The embassy said in a statement posted on X that the crew was rescued Monday following “the unremitting efforts of the Chinese government.” “The Chinese side strongly condemns this vicious action which threatened the safety of the crew and international navigation security, and will continue to firmly safeguard the lawful rights of Chinese citizens and enterprises overseas,” the statement said.
HIGHLIGHTS
• The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
• The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million. It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
The ship and its crew were hijacked in late November and taken to Xaafuun district in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland, a territory in Somalia’s northeast. The pirates who took the ship later demanded a ransom of $10 million.
It was not immediately clear if the money was paid.
“The Chinese side maintained close consultation and coordination” with federal authorities in Somalia as well as the regional government of Puntland in efforts to rescue the ship and its crew, the embassy statement said.
The hijacking underscored the persistent challenges of maritime security in Somalia’s waters. Somalia has for years been blighted by piracy, which peaked in 2011, when the UN says more than 160 attacks were recorded off the Somali coast.
Incidents have declined drastically since then, however, largely due to the presence of American and allied navies in international waters.
