LAHORE: India fired attack drones into Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least two civilians, the Pakistani military said. India, meanwhile, accused its neighbor of attempting its own attack, as tensions soared between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India acknowledged that it targeted Pakistan’s air defense system, and Islamabad said it shot down several of the drones. India said it “neutralized” Pakistan’s attempts to hit military targets. It was not possible to verify all of the claims.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, residents of the city of Jammu reported hearing explosions and sirens late Thursday. Shesh Paul Vaid, the region’s former director-general of police, said there was a complete blackout in Jammu following loud explosions. “Bombing, shelling, or missile strikes suspected,” he wrote on social media.
The exchanges came a day after Indian missiles struck several locations in Pakistan, killing 31 civilians, according to Pakistani officials. New Delhi said it was retaliating after gunmen killed more than two dozen people, mostly Hindu tourists, in India-controlled Kashmir last month. India accused Pakistan of being behind the assault. Islamabad denies that.
Both sides have also traded heavy fire across their frontier in disputed Kashmir, and Pakistan claimed it killed scores of Indian soldiers. There was no confirmation from India.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to avenge the deaths in India’s missile strikes, raising fears that the two countries could be headed toward another all-out conflict. Leaders from both nations face mounting public pressure to show strength and seek revenge, and the heated rhetoric and competing claims could be a response to that pressure.
The relationship between countries has been shaped by conflict and mutual suspicion, most notably in their dispute over Kashmir. They have fought two of their three wars over the Himalayan region, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
With tensions high, India evacuated thousands of people from villages near the highly militarized frontier in the region. Tens of thousands of people slept in shelters overnight, officials and residents said Thursday.
About 2,000 villagers also fled their homes in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Mohammad Iftikhar boarded a vehicle with his family on Thursday as heavy rain lashed the region. “I am helplessly leaving my home for the safety of my children and wife,” he said.
India fires drones at Pakistan
India fired several Israeli-made Harop drones at Pakistan overnight and into Thursday afternoon, according to Pakistani army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, who said 29 were shot down. Two civilian were killed and another wounded when debris from a downed drone fell in Sindh province.
One drone damaged a military site near the city of Lahore and wounded four soldiers, and another fell in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital, according to Sharif. “The armed forces are neutralizing them as we speak,” he told state-run Pakistan Television.
In Lahore, local police official Mohammad Rizwan said a drone was downed near Walton Airport, an airfield in a residential area about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the border with India that also contains military installations.
India’s Defense Ministry said its armed forces “targeted air defense radars and systems” in several places in Pakistan, including Lahore.
Blackout in Gurdaspur district
New Delhi, meanwhile, accused Pakistan of attempting “to engage a number of military targets” with missiles and drones along the Line of Control that divides Kashmir and elsewhere along their border. “The debris of these attacks in now being recovered from a number of locations,” it said.
At a news briefing, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday rejected India’s claim that Islamabad carried out any attack in Indian Punjab. “These accusations are an attempt to incite anti-Pakistan sentiment among the Punjabi Sikh population in India,” he said.
Seated alongside Dar, the military spokesperson, Sharif said Pakistan shot down 29 Indian drones after they violated its airspace.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told parliament that so far Pakistan has not responded to India’s missiles attacks, but there will be one. Later Thursday, Indian authorities ordered a night-time blackout in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, which borders with Pakistan.
The Harop drone, produced by Israel’s IAI, is one of several in India’s inventory, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance report.
According to IAI, the Harop combines the capabilities of a drone and a missile and can operate at long ranges.
The two sides have also exchanged heavy fire over the past day.
Tarar said that the country’s armed forces have killed 40 to 50 Indian soldiers in the exchanges along the Line of Control. India has not commented on that claim. Earlier, the army said one Indian soldier was killed by shelling Wednesday.
Sikh Temple in Kashmir
Tarar denied Indian accusations that Pakistan had fired missiles toward the Indian city of Amritsar, saying in fact an Indian drone fell in the city. Neither claim could be confirmed.
India’s Foreign Ministry has said that 16 civilians were killed Wednesday during exchanges of fire across the de facto border.
Pakistani officials said six people have been killed near highly militarized frontier in exchanges of fire over the past day.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri denied that New Delhi has targeted civilians and a key dam, as Pakistan has alleged. He, in turn, accused Pakistani forces of targeting civilians, including at a Sikh Temple in Kashmir, where he said three Sikhs were killed.
Flights remained suspended at over two dozen airports across northern and western regions in India, according to travel adviseries by multiple airlines. Pakistan resumed flights nationwide after a suspension at four airports, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
India and Pakistan trade fire and accusations as fears of wider military confrontation rise
https://arab.news/gugfg
India and Pakistan trade fire and accusations as fears of wider military confrontation rise
- India acknowledged that it targeted Pakistan’s air defense system
- In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, residents of the city of Jammu reported hearing explosions and sirens late Thursday
UN must ‘carefully’ heed Lebanese views as it weighs post-UNIFIL options, peacekeeping chief says
- Jean Pierre Lacroix tells Arab News he heard nothing while visiting the country that cast doubt on the political will of authorities to disarm Hezbollah and implement UN resolution
- Frequency of Israeli attacks ‘has been quite high and has been increasing,’ he says, warning that some of them could have had ‘very tragic consequences’
NEW YORK CITY: The UN must take its lead from authorities in Lebanon as it weighs its options for international support after the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the country ends, the head of UN peace operations said on Friday.
The views of Beirut must be central to any future arrangement, he stressed.
“We have to listen carefully to the Lebanese authorities,” Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN under-secretary-general for peace operations, told Arab News during a virtual press conference from Saudi Arabia, in reference to discussions about what UN support for the country might look like when the UN Interim Force in Lebanon’s peacekeeping mandate ends.
He was speaking during a regional tour that has taken him to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Israel, during which he met senior political and military officials as well as members of the UN peacekeeping force on the ground.
UNIFIL will continue to operate in Lebanon until its current mandate expires on Dec. 31 this year, with all forces remaining in place until then, Lacroix said. “There is no predrawdown mandate,” he added.
The UN Security Council voted in August last year to grant one final extension to the UNIFIL mandate through the end of 2026, despite Lebanon’s objections. It came as Israel and the US pressed for an end to the decades-old peacekeeping mission, established in 1978, and amid a renewed push to enforce Resolution 1701.
The resolution ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah. It also underpins their current truce, and calls for the Lebanese state to assert exclusive control over security in the south of the country and to disarm all non-state armed groups.
Lacroix said the relationship between UNIFIL and Lebanese authorities was “excellent,” and cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces remained strong. He praised what he described as the political will in Beirut to advance the full implementation of Resolution 1701, citing in particular the recent announcement by Lebanese authorities outlining the first phase of their efforts to establish operational control south of the Litani River. He also acknowledged that significant work remains to be done.
Asked about the disarmament of Hezbollah, Lacroix told Arab News he had heard nothing during his visit that casts doubt on the political will of Lebanese authorities to achieve this, while acknowledging that there are differing assessments among interlocutors about the pace of progress and the risk of rearmament.
“The bottom line for us is that there is momentum,” he said, adding that the UN’s role was to support Lebanese efforts through both its peacekeeping mission and political engagement.
The Security Council has asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to present options for post-UNIFIL support for Resolution 1701 by June 1. Work on that is ongoing, he said, and includes consultations with Lebanese and Israeli authorities, as well as members of the Security Council.
While Lebanese leaders have expressed concern about the end of UNIFIL’s mission and interest in maintaining some form of UN presence in the country, Lacroix said any successor arrangement would be decided by the Security Council.
He declined to speculate about the form or size of any future force. Several factors would need to be assessed, he said, including the security environment and the level of international support for the Lebanese Armed Forces.
However, he repeatedly emphasized the need for greater backing of the Lebanese army from international partners, describing such support as “more important than ever.”
Lacroix described the “appalling” widespread destruction he had witnessed during his visit to southern Lebanon along the Blue Line that separates the country from Israel. Many villages had been heavily damaged and Lebanese civilians were still unable to return to their homes, he said, warning that this complicates the prospects for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
He also raised concerns about the safety of UN peacekeepers as their operating environment had become increasingly dangerous. While relations with local communities were generally good, he said UNIFIL had faced a growing number of hostile incidents involving the Israeli army.
“The frequency of (Israeli attacks) has been quite high and has been increasing,” he said, warning that some of them could have had “very tragic consequences.”
He said he had raised this issue directly with Israeli officials, and called for action to be taken to prevent further incidents, stressing that all parties have a responsibility to ensure the safety of peacekeepers.
Turning to Syria, Lacroix said the Israeli military presence in the UN-monitored area of separation has become the main challenge for peacekeepers, as Israeli forces occupy 10 positions in a zone reserved under a 1974 agreement for UN troops only. Daily liaison with Israeli forces had helped limit the effects on civilians, he added.
“Our objective remains a return to full implementation of the 1974 agreement,” Lacroix said, and he welcomed US-mediated talks between Israel and Syria.
He also addressed the effects of budget cuts on UN peacekeeping missions. Financial shortfalls had forced missions, including UNIFIL, to reduce patrols and prioritize certain areas, he said, limiting their ability to support national forces and protect civilians.
Jordanian officials have expressed support for Lebanon’s efforts and are providing assistance, he added, including training for members of the Lebanese Armed Forces.
Lacroix said he had yet to meet Saudi officials but expected to discuss Lebanon with them during upcoming talks. He also noted Saudi Arabia’s role in discussions about a possible international conference to support the Lebanese army.
