Logo of the Justice Group in Iran (Al Jazeera)
“Army of Justice” is an Iranian opposition group, founded on the ruins of the Baloch “Jund Allah” movement after Tehran executed its leader, Abdul Malek Rigi, in June 2010. The group believes in armed struggle against the Islamic Republic to restore the rights of the Baloch and Sunnis, and is considered one of the most prominent armed organizations inside Iran. In general, and in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, southeast of the country in particular.
On January 16, 2024, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that it had targeted two headquarters of the Army of Justice inside Pakistani territory with missiles and drones, causing a diplomatic crisis between the two countries. Islamabad responded with a group of attacks two days later, announcing the targeting of what it called “terrorists” in Sistan Province. And Iranian Balochistan.
Launching
Following the suicide attack that targeted the “Unity Forum between the Shiite and Sunni Clans” in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan in October 2009 - which claimed the lives of about 30 people, including the Deputy Commander of the Ground Forces of the Revolutionary Guard, General Nour Ali Shushtari, and a number of other senior leaders in the Guard. Al-Thawri - Iran arrested the leader of the Jundallah movement, Abdul Malek Rigi, on February 23, 2010.
While Rigi was traveling on a foreign flight to Kyrgyzstan, Iranian fighter jets intercepted the plane he was traveling in and forced it to land in Iran, announcing that they had captured a valuable catch, then executed him on June 20, 2010.
A photo published by Iranian state television in 2010 shows Rigi under armed guard after his arrest (Reuters)
A few months after Rigi's execution, the first gatherings were launched in the Sistan and Baluchestan region in eastern Iran to form the Army of Justice group, led by Salah al-Din Farouki, a resident of the Iranian city of Rask and one of the most prominent members of the dissolved Jundallah group.
These meetings culminated in the formation of the Army of Justice group, with the pledge of allegiance to Abd al-Rahim Rigi, Abd al-Malik Rigi’s brother, at the end of 2012, and Abd al-Rahim Mallazadeh was appointed Emir of the group, and several armed groups opposed to the Iranian regime joined it over the years.
After adopting armed operations in 2012, the new group confirmed that its main goal is the armed struggle to restore the rights of the Baloch and achieve equality in the rights of Sunnis compared to Shiites inside Iran.
Organization
The Army of Justice group consists of 3 military branches:
Abd al-Malik Mallazadeh unit.
Unit of Sheikh Diyaei.
The unity of Mawlawi Nemat Allah is my monotheist.
Pakistani activists from the Baloch Rights Council carry a picture of Reggae and chant anti-Iran slogans at a protest in Karachi following his arrest (French)
In its operations, the group relies on light weapons and explosive belts against Iranian military groups, especially police stations, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Border Guard, which has become a constant target for members of the Army of Justice, which works in the field of arms smuggling from Pakistan and Afghanistan to Iranian territory. The organization also targets police stations to control... Weapon stores there.
There are no official statistics on the number of members of the Army of Justice, but some media outlets estimate the number of the organization’s forces between one thousand and two thousand armed members.
Babysitter
The Jaish al-Adl organization is active in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, located in southeastern Iran, and takes it as a starting point for carrying out its operations in the eastern Iranian regions.
Although Iranian television constantly broadcasts reports that “the people of this region reject this terrorist organization and demand its elimination,” it manages from time to time to attack Iranian military targets in that region.
Observers believe that without the popular incubator, the group’s members would not have been able to hide among the local population.
It is noteworthy that the Sistan and Baluchestan region was ruled by successive Mongol dynasties, until its invasion during the 16th century by the Safavids, and ending with British colonialism, which separated the region from Afghanistan and annexed it to Iranian territory, which sparked many political conflicts of ethnic and sectarian background.
Due to its complex ethnic and sectarian composition and geographical location, the region is of special importance to the Iranian authorities, especially since recent years have witnessed growing demands for secession in the three parts of Balochistan in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan to establish the Baloch state.
Tehran annexed the region to its territory in 1928, and it is considered one of the largest Iranian provinces, while part of it joined Pakistan a year after its establishment in 1947, becoming its fourth province.
A picture of fighters from the Army of Justice (social networking sites)
Doctrine
The organization - which defines itself as "Sunni" - says that it seeks to restore the rights of the Sunni minority in Iran and revive the Baloch state that existed until 1839, when it was subjected to British control and then divided between Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
Iran accuses the Jaish al-Adl movement of being linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, based on the definition of Jaish al-Adl itself on the X platform as “a jihadist movement in Persia that seeks to overthrow the Iranian government and establish Islamic law.”
Processes
Since its official launch in 2012, the Army of Justice has adopted a series of operations inside Iranian territory, including bombings, suicide operations, hostage-taking, and targeting military headquarters, most notably:
14 Iranian border guards were killed in the city of Saravan on October 25, 2013.
Shooting down a Revolutionary Guard helicopter on November 26, 2013.
Execution of a member of the Revolutionary Guard on March 23, 2014.
Five Iranian border guards were kidnapped on February 6, 2014. Tehran said at the time that the organization had transferred the hostages to Pakistan.
Eight Iranian border guards were killed in the Naghor region bordering Pakistan on April 6, 2015. Iran says the group targeted its forces from inside Pakistani territory.
An ambush was carried out in the Mir Java region, killing 9 Iranian border guards and wounding two others on the Pakistani-Iranian border on April 26, 2017.
A suicide bombing targeted the coastal city of Chabahar in December 2018, killing two police officers and wounding 42 others.
A suicide attack targeted a bus on the Khash Zahedan Road with Revolutionary Guard members on board, leaving 27 dead and 13 injured in February 2018.
14 members of the Iranian border guard were kidnapped in the “Loulakdan” area in Sistan and Baluchestan Province on October 16, 2018.
The head of local intelligence in the Revolutionary Guard, Colonel Ali Mousavi, was killed by gunfire during armed clashes with members of the Army of Justice in October 2022.
An armed attack on the police headquarters in the city of Rask, southeastern Iran, in December 2023, leaving 11 members of the internal security forces dead and 7 wounded.
Counterattacks
On January 16, 2024, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard announced that it had targeted two Jaish al-Adl headquarters inside Pakistani territory with missiles and drones, causing a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Iranian strikes inside Pakistan resulted in the destruction of two bases used by the "Army of Justice" group, according to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency, while Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that the attack "led to the death of two innocent children and the injury of 3 girls."
On the other hand, on Thursday morning, January 18, 2024, Islamabad adopted a “series of military strikes” that it described as “precise, highly coordinated and specifically directed against terrorist hideouts in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan,” in reference to the so-called “Baluchistan Liberation Army” group. Armed forces inside Iran.
Al Jazeera's correspondent quoted Pakistani sources as saying, "The strikes that targeted Sistan-Baluchestan Province hit 6 targets within 3 locations at a depth of 40 to 50 kilometers inside Iranian territory."
On the other hand, the Iranian News Agency announced that “the Pakistani attack resulted in the death of 9 people,” and Iranian official media reported that among the dead were 3 women and 4 children, all of them Pakistanis.
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Source: Al Jazeera + websites