Operation Sindoor: India Strikes Back in Kashmir

The Indian Air Force launched precision strikes against suspected terrorist camps in Pakistan-administered territory on May 7, 2025, in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir weeks earlier. The operation, codenamed Sindoor, involved coordinated Indian Army and Air Force assets striking multiple targets simultaneously in what India described as surgical counterterrorism action. The Pahalgam attack, which targeted tourists and pilgrims in one of Kashmir's most visited destinations, had provoked an intense national response in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced enormous domestic pressure to respond militarily, and intelligence agencies identified training camps they believed were linked to the perpetrators. The strikes followed a pattern established by the 2019 Balakot air strike, where India used air power against targets inside Pakistani territory for the first time since the 1971 war. India described the operation as targeting "terrorist infrastructure" rather than Pakistani military positions, framing the strikes within the precedent of surgical operations against non-state actors. Pakistan denied the existence of any terrorist camps at the targeted locations and condemned the strikes as an act of aggression against its sovereignty. The international community called for restraint from both nuclear-armed neighbors. The strikes raised tensions along the Line of Control to their highest point since the 2019 crisis, with both nations placing military forces on heightened alert. China, a close ally of Pakistan, issued statements urging de-escalation, while the United States called on both sides to avoid further military action. The operation demonstrated India's willingness to use force across the international border in response to terrorism, maintaining the doctrine established at Balakot that attacks originating from Pakistani soil would invite retaliation against targets within Pakistan's borders. The longer-term diplomatic consequences continued to unfold in the weeks that followed.