Iran arrests 7 people, kills 4 people in the southeast for alleged links to Israel

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on Wednesday that it had arrested and killed several people with alleged ties to Israel in the southeastern Iranian province over the past two days. Sistan and Baluchistan.

Gen. Ahmad Shafaei, spokesman for the Revolutionary Guard’s ground forces, said in a statement carried by Iranian state-run PressTV that an elite Revolutionary Guard unit killed “four terrorists affiliated with the Zionist regime” and arrested seven people in the region bordering Pakistan. does not provide evidence of the alleged Israeli connection.

He added that 5 more people surrendered to security forces in the province in the last 48 hours.

Shafaei explained that the arrests took place as part of the operation called “Security Martyrs”, which began on October 31 in areas he did not specify, with the aim of “strengthening and supporting permanent security”.

According to Shafaei, Saberin units and other forces of the Revolutionary Guard are participating in the operation along with provincial security forces in Sistan and Balochistan.

Sistan and Baluchistan province is home to the ethnic Sunni Baluch community, which has suffered years of oppression and marginalization under Iran’s successive Shiite regimes.

Jaish al-Adl, a Baloch separatist group fighting for independence from Iran, has repeatedly attacked Iranian security forces in the province.

The group most recently claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 10 Iranian police officers in the province’s Taftan district on October 26.

On January 16, the Revolutionary Guards attacked Jaish al-Adl areas in Pakistan’s Balochistan province using missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Iran-Israel tension escalates

Iranian authorities are increasing their operations against the public suspected of espionage For Israel, following serious large-scale tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and Israel in April and October.

On November 2, the Revolutionary Guard announced that its operational forces had dispersed “four terrorist teams acting as proxies of the enemy” without further explanation.

In September, 12 more people suspected of collaborating with Israel and planning an attack on Iran were arrested in six provinces.

“After the Zionist regime and its Western supporters, especially the USA, failed to achieve success in their sinister goals against the people of Gaza and Lebanon, they are now seeking to spread the crisis to Iran with a series of actions planned against our country. “security,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said in a statement.

In December 2023, Iranian authorities executed four men convicted of spying for Israel.

Last year, tensions between Iran and Israel have increased since the Iran-backed Hamas group launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, triggering Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Last month Israel launched two waves: air strikes Many military targets across Iran in retaliation for Iran’s launch of a ballistic missile at Israel on October 1, in response to Iran’s airstrike killing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard Deputy Commander Abbas Nilforushan on September 27. was shot. Beirut.

The Revolutionary Guard launched its first direct attack on Israel in April, launching hundreds of drones in response to a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus that killed at least seven people, including two Revolutionary Guard commanders.