The Pakistan Army has issued a warning to residents of the Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to vacate their homes by January 25, as security forces prepare to launch a new military operation in the area, Pakistani media have reported. The announcement has triggered growing concerns over large-scale displacement and humanitarian challenges, particularly amid the harsh winter season.

According to the reports, residents have been given one week to leave the region ahead of the planned operation. Pakistan’s federal government has pledged financial assistance to affected families, stating that each household will receive 250,000 Pakistani rupees after biometric registration at centers set up by the provincial disaster management authority. Families will also be allowed to relocate to Peshawar or other tribal districts.

Officials said displaced families will receive a monthly allowance of 50,000 rupees until April. In addition, compensation of one million rupees has been promised for partially damaged homes, while families whose houses are completely destroyed during the operation would be paid three million rupees.

However, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, led by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has openly opposed the military operation. Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, who visited Tirah on Thursday, reiterated that military action is not a solution to the province’s security challenges.

“This forced displacement is the result of the so-called ‘closed-door policy,’ which is driven by political interests rather than genuine security concerns,” Afridi said. “After 22 major operations and nearly 14,000 smaller ones, peace has still not been achieved. What guarantee is there that this operation will bring security? Tirah is my home, and its people are my people.”

Meanwhile, thousands of families who have already fled or are preparing to leave their ancestral homes have expressed deep concern over their uncertain future. Residents say spending freezing winter nights without adequate shelter, healthcare, or access to education will create serious immediate and long-term hardships. Some have also complained of deliberate obstacles in the registration and aid distribution process.

Pakistan’s central government estimates that the operation could displace around 100,000 people.

Analysts note that a similar military operation in 2013 displaced nearly 11,000 families from Tirah, who were allowed to return about a year later. During that period, the army established extensive military installations in the area, yet lasting security was not achieved.

Some security experts are also examining the “closed-door” policy from another perspective, arguing that Tirah’s strategic location—bordering Afghanistan and rich in forests and mineral resources—makes it a sensitive area. They warn that instability could create conditions conducive to the movement or relocation of militant groups, including the Daesh.

The situation continues to draw attention as residents, political leaders, and humanitarian observers call for alternatives to military action and greater protection for civilians facing displacement.

The United States stands by the “brave people of Iran,” and President Donald Trump “has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to intervene in support of protesters in Iran, where thousands of people have been reported killed in a crackdown on the protests against clerical rule, Reuters reported.

But on Thursday, Trump adopted a wait‑and‑see posture, saying he had been told that the killings were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions.

“President Trump is a man of action, not endless talk like we see at the United Nations. He has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter,” Waltz told the Security Council meeting, which Washington had requested.

Waltz dismissed allegations by Iran that the protests are “a foreign plot to give a precursor to military action.”

“Everyone in the world needs to know that the regime is weaker than ever before, and therefore is putting forward this lie because of the power of the Iranian people in the streets. They are afraid. They’re afraid of their own people,” Waltz said.

Iran’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Gholamhossein Darzi said Iran does not seek escalation or confrontation and accused Waltz of resorting “to lies, distortion of facts, and a deliberate misinformation campaign to conceal his country’s direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence.”

“However, any act of aggression – direct or indirect – will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response,” he told the Security Council. “This is not a threat; it is a statement of legal reality.”

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the United States of convening the Security Council in a bid to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state” and threats to “solve the Iranian problem in its favorite way: through strikes aimed at overthrowing an undesirable regime.”

“We strongly urge the hot heads in Washington and other capitals … to come to their senses,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges “maximum restraint at this sensitive moment and calls on all actors to refrain from any actions that could lead to further loss of life or ignite a wider regional escalation,” senior U.N. official Martha Pobee told the council.

“Loud and clear, again and again, we hear the Iranians lift their voices for a better life,” Denmark’s U.N. Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen told the Security Council. “For too long the leaders in Tehran have not heeded this call. The time has now come for the government of Iran to finally listen, to respond to the will of its people through peaceful means. We urge them to start today.”

Iran reopened its airspace after a near-five-hour closure amid concerns about possible military action between the U.S. and Iran that forced airlines to cancel, reroute or delay some flights.

Iran closed its airspace to all flights except international ones to and from Iran with official permission at 5:15 p.m. ET (2215 GMT) on Wednesday, according to a notice on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration website.

The notice was removed shortly before 10 p.m. ET, or 0300 GMT, according to tracking service Flightradar24, which showed five flights from Iranian carriers Mahan Air, Yazd Airways and AVA Airlines were among the first to resume over the country.

At a similar time last week to the airspace closure there had been dozens of planes in the air over Iran, Flightradar24 said.

The temporary closure came as President Donald Trump has been weighing a response to the situation in Iran, which is seeing its biggest anti-government protests in years.

The United States was withdrawing some personnel from bases in the Middle East, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, after a senior Iranian official said Tehran had warned neighbors it would hit American bases if Washington strikes.

Missile and drone barrages in a growing number of conflict zones represent a high risk to airline traffic.

India’s largest airline, IndiGo (INGL.NS), said some of its international flights would be impacted by Iran’s sudden airspace closure. Air India said its flights were using alternative routes that could result in delays or cancellations.

A flight by Russia’s Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), bound for Tehran returned to Moscow after the closure, according to Flightradar24 data.

Earlier on Wednesday, Germany issued a new directive cautioning the country’s airlines from entering Iranian airspace, shortly after Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), rejigged its flight operations across the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region.

The United States already prohibits all U.S. commercial flights from overflying Iran and there are no direct flights between the countries.

Airline operators like flydubai and Turkish Airlines have canceled multiple flights to Iran in the past week.

“Several airlines have already reduced or suspended services, and most carriers are avoiding Iranian airspace,” said Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information. “The situation may signal further security or military activity, including the risk of missile launches or heightened air defence, increasing the risk of misidentification of civil traffic.”

A Ukraine International Airlines jet was downed by Iran’s military in 2020, killing all 176 passengers and crew.

Lufthansa said on Wednesday that it would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace until further notice while it would only operate day flights to Tel Aviv and Amman from Wednesday until Monday next week so that crew would not have to stay overnight. Some flights could also be canceled as a result of these actions, it added in a statement.

Italian carrier ITA Airways, in which Lufthansa Group is now a major shareholder, said that it would similarly suspend night flights to Tel Aviv until Tuesday next week.