On 18 January 2024, Pakistan launched a series of air and artillery strikes inside Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province, targeting Baloch separatist groups, codenamed Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar () by Pakistan. The attack was launched in response to the Iranian missile strikes in Pakistan's Balochistan province, one day earlier.
Iran stated that those killed were foreign nationals. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) confirmed that its members were killed in the Pakistani attack.
This attack marked the first known instance of a foreign country launching an attack on Iranian soil since the end of the IranâÂÂIraq War in 1988.
Marg Bar Sarmachar means "death to insurgents". Marg Bar means "death to" in the Persian language, commonly used in the Iranian slogan Marg Bar Amrika. Sarmachar means "insurgents" or "guerrilla" in Balochi language; it is the term Baloch militants use as a self-appellation.
According to Pakistan, the attack was launched in retaliation for a missile strike carried out by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the border area of Pakistan's Balochistan province. The Iranian strike allegedly targeted the Jaish ul-Adl militant group on 16 January 2024, resulting in the deaths of two children and injuring four people, as reported by Pakistan.
Pakistan's military claimed it carried out strikes against "terrorist hideouts" in Iran using "killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons". The attacks took place at 04:05 IRST (UTC+03:30) according to the deputy governor general of Sistan-Baluchestan province of Iran. TRT World, citing a senior intelligence source, reported that seven separate locations of Baloch separatist groups in the Iranian city of Saravan in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Pakistan didn't provide further details of the attack, however, Pakistani defense and aerospace publication Global Defense Insight claimed YIHA-III loitering munitions were used in the attack. Similarly, Janes speculated JF-17 and F-16 fighter jets, alongside Bayraktar TB2 and Burraq drones were used.
Iran said that nine people were killed during the attack, including four children, three women, and two men, who were non-Iranians.
Sources in the Pakistani military said that its aircraft and drones penetrated approximately 12 miles (20 km) into Iranian territory to target the militant hideouts. Such Pakistani strikes were the first known instances of attacks on Iranian soil since the end of the IranâÂÂIraq War.
The Balochistan Liberation Army acknowledged the deaths of its people in the operation and vowed "revenge" against the Pakistani state.
On 27 January, nine Pakistanis were killed by unknown assailants in Saravan.
On 30 January, the BLA claimed responsibility for a rocket and gun attack on Pakistani security forces in Machh, Balochistan Province that left a police officer and six attackers dead and 15 security officers injured.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Pakistan "undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts" that killed "a number of terrorists" in an operation codenamed "Marg Bar Sarmachar", adding that the attacks were launched due to "lack of action" by Iran regarding the presence of "Pakistani origin terrorists" on its soil. According to the Pakistani military's Inter-Services Public Relations, the targeted hideouts were being used by militants from the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Baluch Liberation Front (BLF), including, among others, Dosta alias chairman, Bajjar alias Soghat, Sahil alias Shafaq, Asghar alias Basham, and Wazir alias Wazi.
Following the attack, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar cut short his attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and returned home to convene an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on 19 January. Foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, who was on a visit to Uganda, also cut short his visit and returned to Pakistan.
On 19 January Anwaar ul Haq Kakar announced that normal diplomatic relations with Iran had been restored, following a foreign ministry statement that said that there was agreement to de-escalate the conflict.
The Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on its territory and summoned the Pakistani chargé d'affaires to provide an explanation about the incident.
The Iranian government was heavily criticized on social media for its weak response against the attacks, its description of the dead as non-Iranians and initial downplaying of the incident.
On 29 January, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian visited Pakistan as part of efforts to de-escalate tensions following the attacks.