Pakistan shuts border with Iran: Provincial officials
'Border facilities in all five districts -- Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar -- have been suspended,' Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP.
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Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Azerbaijan ‘eager' to learn from Pakistan's multi-domain air warfare — Pakistani military
ISLAMABAD: Azerbaijan has expressed a keen interest in learning the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) multi-domain air warfare to strengthen its defense capabilities, the Pakistani military said on Tuesday. The statement came after a high-level Azerbaijan delegation, led by Deputy Minister and Director-General of Defense Agil Gurbanov, called on the PAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, at the Air Headquarters in Islamabad. The visit follows a four-day Pakistan-India military standoff in May, during which officials said the PAF successfully conducted multi-domain operations to down six Indian fighter jets, including the French-made Rafale jets. While India has acknowledged losses in the air, it has not specified the number of aircraft lost. During Tuesday's meeting in Islamabad, both sides engaged in extensive discussions and underscored a shared commitment to fostering defense collaboration in training, modernization and technical expertise, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing. Deputy Minister Gurbanov 'conveyed Azerbaijan's strong desire for collaboration across Multi-Domain Operations, noting that Pakistan Air Force's rich operational experience provides a valuable model for Azerbaijan,' the ISPR said in a statement after the meeting. 'He added that his country is especially eager to learn PAF's complete methodology of Multi Domain warfare to strengthen its own capabilities.' The hour-long India-Pakistan fight, which took place in darkness, involved some 110 aircraft, experts estimate, making it the world's largest air battle in decades. Pakistan's Chines-made J-10s shot down at least one Rafale, Reuters reported in May, citing US officials. Its downing surprised many in the military community and raised questions about the effectiveness of Western military hardware against untested Chinese alternatives. Deputy Minister Gurbanov termed the PAF's seamless integration of multi-domain operations a 'hallmark of modern air warfare' and conveyed Azerbaijan's 'keen interest' in learning from PAF's battle-proven experience. Underscoring the importance of joint training initiatives through bilateral exercises between the two air forces, the visiting dignitary emphasized that such cooperation would enhance shared learning, interoperability and professional excellence, according to the ISPR. During the meeting, Air Chief Marshal Sidhu shared insight into the PAF's various ongoing modernization projects, operational construct, force goals and plans for the force structure, with a focus on future warfare. He reiterated the PAF's unwavering support to provide capacity-building assistance to the Azerbaijan Air Force in upgradation of its human resource, maintenance parameters and operational training. 'The dignitary reiterated Azerbaijan's intent to revamp its entire training system, beginning from the academy level, and acknowledged Pakistan Air Force as a trusted partner in guiding this transformation,' the ISPR said. 'He expressed confidence that cooperation with PAF would significantly contribute to the modernization and professional growth of Azerbaijan Air Force.' Pakistan and Azerbaijan maintain close brotherly, trade and defense ties. In July 2024, Azerbaijan announced a $2 billion investment in Pakistan during a visit by President Ilham Aliyev to Islamabad. In September last year, Pakistan signed a contract to supply JF-17 Block III fighter jets to Azerbaijan, marking the deepening of defense cooperation. 'The visit of the Azerbaijani defense delegation to Air Headquarters, Islamabad reflects the mutual commitment of Pakistan and Azerbaijan to further deepen their strategic partnership, while reinforcing the shared aspirations for regional peace, security and stability,' the ISPR added.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Netanyahu slams Macron for fueling ‘antisemitic fire': Letter
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upbraided French President Emmanuel Macron in a letter seen by AFP Tuesday, blaming the French leader's move to recognize a Palestinian state for fueling antisemitism. 'Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on this antisemitic fire. It is not diplomacy, it is appeasement. It rewards Hamas terror, hardens Hamas' refusal to free the hostages, emboldens those who menace French Jews and encourages the Jew-hatred now stalking your streets,' Netanyahu wrote in the letter.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
Where did Iran's Arab supporters disappear?
A deathly silence looms over the Arab street, unmoved by the wave of dramatic events in the region. We have not seen demonstrations, protests, or sit-ins in the Arab countries, and in my view, this is the first time in seven decades or more that such displays have vanished. What has befallen Iran is no small matter; its military losses and nuclear facilities are immense — facilities that cost billions of dollars, and much blood and sweat to build. To its ballistic and nuclear losses, we can add the loss of the popular current it had cultivated across the region, from Iraq to Morocco. When the Lebanese government took its bold decision to confiscate Hezbollah's weapons, the response was limited to just a few dozen motorcycles roaming Beirut's streets in protest. So, what happened to the human waves, the millions who once flooded the streets at a mere gesture from the party's leader or from Tehran? The collapse of Iranian influence is clear within Arab regions, like the collapse of Nasserism after its defeat in the 1967 war. It lost the ability to mobilize the street and resorted to relying on its socialist party members and labor unions to attend events after the masses — who once filled the squares with passion and spontaneity in response to radio appeals that dominated people's awareness and emotions for nearly two decades — dwindled. In the wake of that defeat, a sense of shock and betrayal spread across the region, which had been waiting for the liberation of Palestine. People do not admire the defeated Abdulrahman Al-Rashed Iran, too, once enjoyed dominance and popular support in the region, defying attempts to block its ideas and curb its activities. It managed to raise generations of Arabs on its ideas. Tehran opened its doors and arms to extremist Sunnis, including leaders of Al-Qaeda, overlooking their anti-Shiite ideology, and supported most Sunni opposition groups and movements against their governments. It built an organic, deeply coordinated relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. It organized nearly annual conferences and seminars for Arab nationalists and communists. It spent heavily to woo Arab politicians and intellectuals; books were published, and odes of praise were written in support of the imam's regime and in its defense. Tehran gathered Shiites, Sunnis, and Arab Christians alike — thinkers from the Gulf, Egypt, the Levant, the Maghreb, Sudan, Yemen, and Arab diaspora communities. It climbed onto many Arab media outlets to promote Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's line. At times, we could hardly understand how it managed to reconcile all these contradictions. In Tripoli — a city with tensions against the Shiites of Beirut — there were Sunni groups that, since the 1980s, continued to pledge allegiance to Tehran. In Jordan, among the Muslim Brotherhood, some openly declared their affection for Tehran's leaders. Numerous works emerged in its defense: in Egypt, for example, 'Iran and Political Islam'; in Kuwait, 'Iran and the West: Conflict of Interests'; in the Gulf, conferences were held under the banner of 'rapprochement' between sects, celebrating the history of Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir Li-Din Allah. All these activities might have been laudable, were it not for the fact that the intentions behind them were not out of love for ending or easing sectarian strife, but rather as part of a political project of domination. Tehran was managing elite and grassroots movements in dozens of Arab cities; protests against novels, films, negotiations, and regimes. But in the recent wars, following the October 2023 attack, the kind of mobilization we were used to in every confrontation faded. The first reason: People do not admire the defeated. The second: The apparatuses that used to orchestrate these gatherings have lost their connections and their resources have dried up. The Arab street venerates the victorious hero until he falls, then replaces him with another hero. Its believers have been shaken by successive defeats, just as Nasserists were shattered by the setbacks of the 1960s. The remaining challenge is to hold on to its supporters within its Shiite popular base; they are the ones most harmed and who still live the trauma of shock. With time, the Shiites of Lebanon will come to realize the truth — that they are victims of Hezbollah and Iran; that it is a burden on them, rather than a support. For four decades they have borne the confrontation with Israel and the consequences of ties with Iran: economic and personal sanctions, the destruction of their areas and neighborhoods, the targeting of their remittances from Africa and the Americas, and more.
