Pakistan on Sunday expressed deep concern over the escalation of hostilities in the Middle East following Iran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel, urging all parties to exercise “utmost restraint” and work toward de-escalation of tensions.
The Foreign Office statement comes in response to Iran launching a swarm of explosive drones and firing missiles at Israel late Saturday night in its first ever direct attack on Israeli territory, risking a major escalation in the Middle East.
Israel’s military said more than 100 drones were launched from Iran, with security sources in Iraq and Jordan reporting dozens seen flying overhead and US officials saying the American military had shot some down. Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement that Islamabad was watching the situation in the Middle East with “deep concern.”
“It is now critically urgent to stabilize the situation and restore peace,” it said. “We call on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and move toward de-escalation.” Iran launched the missiles and drone attacks against Israel for what its aid was a retaliatory attack against an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers, including two senior commanders.
The Foreign Office said Pakistan had pointed to the dangers of the attack on the Iranian consular office in Syria as a “major escalation “in an already volatile region. “Today’s developments demonstrate the consequences of the breakdown of diplomacy,” it said.
“These also underline the grave implications in cases where the UN Security Council is unable to fulfill its responsibilities of maintaining international peace and security.”
The Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, now in its seventh month, has driven up tensions in the region, spreading to fronts with Lebanon and Syria and drawing long-range fire at Israeli targets from as far away as Yemen and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s foreign office said on Sunday it was “deeply saddened” and “shocked” by the mass stabbing at a Sydney shopping center a day earlier which claimed six lives, including that of a Pakistani security guard. An attacker fatally stabbed six people on Saturday afternoon at the busy Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in Sydney.
Five of the six victims killed were women, while eight people, including a nine-month-old baby, were taken to hospital with stab wounds, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a press conference.
