Armed Attacker Killed In Gunfire Near US Consulate In Saudi Arabia
Two people were killed when an armed man exchanged fire with Saudi Arabian security forces and guards near the US consulate in Jeddah Wednesday.
Two people were killed when an armed man exchanged fire with Saudi Arabian security forces and guards near the US consulate in Jeddah Wednesday.
The US State Department said incident led to the deaths of the gunman and a security guard, but no Americans were harmed in the incident.
"A person in a car stopped near the American Consulate building in Jeddah Governorate and got out of it carrying a firearm in his hand, so security authorities took the initiative to deal with him as required, and the exchange of fire resulted in his death," a spokesperson for the Makkah Region police said.
A Nepalese worker in the consulate's private security guards was injured and subsequently died, state news agency SPA reported.
Investigations are underway into the shootings.
"The US Embassy and Consulate remain in contact with Saudi authorities as they investigate the incident," a State Department spokesperson said.
The consulate has been targeted several times in recent years. In 2016, a suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded in a blast near the compound.
And in 2004, five people stormed the US consulate with bombs and guns, killing four Saudi security personnel outside and five local staff within. Three of the attackers were killed in the assault and two were captured.
The 2004 attack in Jeddah followed other deadly bombings and shootings against expatriate compounds, Westerners working in the kingdom and other targets that were part of an al Qaeda campaign aimed at ousting the ruling Al Saud family.
Reporting by Reuters
“With the expiration of the six-month period for the Islamic Republic of Iran to submit to binding arbitration for the downing of Flight PS752, it is anticipated that the case will be referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague after June 28,” read a Wednesday statement by the Association of Families of Flight PS752 Victims.
Pinning hope on the International Coordination and Response Group for the victims -- comprised of Canada, Ukraine, Britain, and Sweden – the victims’ families said that “If the affected countries follow through as expected, it will mark the first time in history that the Islamic Republic will face an international tribunal for one of the thousands of crimes it has committed.”
In a statement issued on December 28, 2022, the International Coordination and Response Group called on Iran to submit to “binding arbitration of the dispute related to the downing of Flight PS752 by 2 surface-to-air missiles launched unlawfully and intentionally by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) air defense unit...”
The victims’ families also organized a forum to discuss the issue and a rally in Toronto on July 5 to raise awareness about the tragic accident.
In September, lawyers representing the families submitted an Article 15 Communication to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, providing information and evidence about crimes that occurred when Iranian missiles brought down the international flight.
The request was submitted in accordance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute, alleging that perpetrators have committed certain war crimes and crimes against humanity against the passengers and crew of flight PS752 and their surviving family members, including the war crimes of willful killing, intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or civilian objects, as well as other inhumane acts.
The airliner was shot down by the IRGC on January 8, 2020, as it took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. Only hours earlier, the IRGC had fired more than a dozen missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US and coalition troops in retaliation for the killing of the IRGC Qods Force Commander Ghasem Soleimani who was killed in Baghdad by a US drone strike just five days earlier. All 176 passengers and crew, including 63 Canadians as well as 82 Iranian citizens died in the disaster.
The Wednesday call to prosecute the perpetrators at the International Court of Justice came as the UN's top court said that the Islamic Republic has taken Canada to the ICJ for allegedly breaching Tehran's state immunity by designating it a sponsor of terrorism.
Canada listed Tehran as a terror sponsor in 2012 and severed diplomatic ties as relations frayed over Tehran's support for Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, its nuclear program, and threats against Israel. In 2016, a Canadian judge ordered Iran's non-diplomatic land and bank accounts in Canada to be handed over to victims of attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran launched legal proceedings against Canada on Tuesday "concerning alleged violations of its immunities" as a sovereign state, the Hague-based ICJ said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Canada has adopted and implemented a series of legislative, executive, and judicial measures against Iran and its property in breach of its international obligations," Iran said in its filing to the court.
Iran has demanded compensation from Canada for the "violation of its international obligations,” and asked the ICJ to tell Ottawa to overrule any judgments against Tehran in Canadian courts.
The case is similar to the Iranian regime’s long-running claim at the ICJ against the United States for billions of dollars of assets frozen by US court rulings.
The PIJ has established several armed cells and recruited dozens of gunmen in the northern West Bank, specifically in Jenin and Nablus. “The PIJ has become a dominant force in the northern West Bank, largely thanks to the financial aid it receives from Iran," a source told Israel's Jerusalem Post. “Islamic Jihad is using Iranian money to buy weapons and loyalty in the West Bank [and] the organization is paying high salaries to its members.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad has stepped up its activity over the last year, largely thanks to extra funding from Tehran, including an incident in April in which dozens of rockets were launched in a cross border attack on Israel from Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. Last August, the PIJ unleashed almost 2,000 rockets and mortars in three days of fighting.
The PIJ, like Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, have become full-fledged Iranian proxies, receiving Iranian funding, training, sophisticated equipment, and, most importantly, Tehran’s instructions on their confrontation with Israel. Last year, then defense minister Benny Gantz claimed that the PIJ was receiving tens of millions of dollars from Tehran. This week the group's leaders met with President Raisi, among others, in a show of force against Israel.
The evolution from guerrilla-terrorist militias to armies results from a long process initiated by Tehran with the active assistance of Hezbollah in Lebanon. The escalating events in recent months have shown the ongoing coordination and consultation among the top leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and PIJ in Beirut, Damascus, and Tehran, with the aim of creating a united front facing Israel from Iran-supported Lebanon, Syria, Gaza, and the West Bank.
