Latvia’s border guard asked for help from the army and police to guard the border with Belarus on Tuesday after 96 illegal crossing attempts were recorded in 24 hours, the border guard said, Reuters reports.

Border guards were also called in from vacation to patrol the border, the service said.

Latvia has “information about the possible growth of hybrid threats” and that the authorities of Belarus are increasingly involved in the organization of the flow of illegal immigrants, the statement said.

This year, 5,799 migrants were denied entry to the country across the border between Latvia and Belarus, while 292 were admitted to the Baltic country on humanitarian grounds. The number already exceeds the 5,286 people intercepted during 2022.

The term “hybrid warfare” is used by Baltic governments and security analysts to refer to Belarus’ strategy of attracting migrants, mostly from the Middle East, and then forcing them to cross borders with neighboring European countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Agerpres.