The first act of war: India and Pakistan exchanged missile strikes

On the night of May 7, the Indian Ministry of Defense announced the launch of Operation Sindoor. New Delhi has launched missile strikes against nine "terrorist infrastructure" facilities in Pakistan, the country's Defense Ministry said. At least eight people were killed and 35 others were injured. Islamabad responded with rocket attacks on targets in India. About what is happening in the region and what it can lead to — in the Izvestia article.

Operation Sindur

"Justice has been done. Jai Hind! [Long live India]," the Indian Army's press service said in a statement.

New Delhi announced the Sindoor operation (the so-called red powder, which is considered a distinctive sign of married women in Hinduism. — Ed.), which targets the "terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan." In particular, according to the Ani news agency, the targets of the attack were the leaders of the terrorist groups Jaish-i-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba (the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation. — Ed.).

In total, India attacked nine targets in Pakistan, the Indian Ministry of Defense said. They emphasized that New Delhi was very restrained in its choice of methods and targets, and no military facilities were attacked.

In turn, the Pakistani authorities closed the country's airspace for 48 hours and retaliated against India's border areas in Kashmir. A state of emergency has been declared in Punjab province.

The Aeroflot plane flying from Moscow to New Delhi landed in Tashkent, and the flight to Phuket was turned back to the departure airport. The airline explained that all flights operated from the Russian capital to India, Thailand, Maldives, Seychelles and Sri Lanka will bypass the closed zone.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry accused the neighboring state of violating its sovereignty. Islamabad reported eight dead and 35 injured in the Indian attack. According to the Director General of the Public Relations Department of the Pakistan Army (ISPR), Major General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Indian Air Force attacked civilian infrastructure in the cities of Sialkot, Shakargarh and Muridka, as well as in the village of Kotli. As a result, mosques, pharmacies, residential buildings, cultural and medical institutions were damaged.

In response, Islamabad, according to the country's Defense Ministry, shot down five Indian warplanes, including three Rafale fighter jets. According to Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, his country has "every right to respond decisively to this act of war imposed by India, and a decisive response has already been given."

Samaa TV channel, citing a source, said that the Pakistani army retaliated by destroying the location of a brigade of the Indian armed forces. New Delhi reported that two women were injured in the Pakistani attack.

The Pakistani Prime Minister has called a meeting of the National Security Committee, which is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. local time (8:00 a.m. Moscow time).

"India's reckless actions have brought nuclear—weapon states closer to a major conflict," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic, Khawaja Asif, stressed that Islamabad is ready to refrain from military escalation if New Delhi "stops aggression."

Response to the terrorist attack

The reason for the escalation was the terrorist attack in the city of Pahalgam, located in the mountainous Anantnag region of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. On April 22, a group of armed militants attacked tourists. As a result of the attack, 26 people were killed and dozens more were injured.

The little-known Resistance Front group, formed in 2019 during the period of another escalation of the situation in Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the incident. On social media, representatives of the group said that the attack was a response to the influx of "outsiders" who caused "demographic changes" in the region.

New Delhi has accused the Pakistani authorities of supporting "cross-border terrorism." Pakistan denies any involvement in the attack.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to "identify, track down and punish every terrorist and all their patrons." New Delhi has terminated the visa-free regime program for Pakistani citizens, suspended the issuance of visas and cancelled those issued to citizens of this country.

India also closed the only land border crossing at Attari Wagah and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which allowed Pakistan to use the waters of the northern tributaries of the river.

Islamabad responded by closing its airspace to Indian airlines and suspending all trade relations with New Delhi.

A week after the terrorist attack, the Indian Prime Minister said at a security meeting that the country's Defense Ministry has complete freedom to make decisions about the method, goals and timing of the response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam.

How did the world react

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' representative, Stephane Dujarric, said Guterres was extremely concerned about New Delhi's military operation and called on both countries to exercise maximum military restraint.

US President Donald Trump called it a "disgrace" that the conflict between India and Pakistan has entered a hot phase and expressed hope for its early resolution.

"I am closely following the situation in relations between India and Pakistan. I join the U.S. President's hopes expressed earlier today that this will end quickly, and I will continue to work with the leaders of India and Pakistan to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict," said U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Beijing has expressed concern about the escalation between India and Pakistan, calling on the sides to exercise restraint.

At the same time, Ankara expressed solidarity with Pakistan in connection with the Indian attack. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar and "expressed concern about the deterioration of the regional security situation."

The Reuters news agency, citing sources, said that New Delhi had contacted Russia, the United States, Britain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to report on the operation against Pakistan.

What do the experts think

Alexey Kupriyanov, head of the South Asia and Indian Ocean Region Group at the IMEMO Center for Asia-Pacific Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia that the future scenario depends on how Pakistan reacts.

"It's important whether he retaliates or confines himself to statements that the Indians hit only peaceful targets, the Pakistani forces rebuffed them, New Delhi learned a good lesson, and so on," the expert said.

According to him, with this scenario, there is a possibility that the active phase of the conflict will end there.

Kamran Hasanov, a doctor of political science at the University of Salzburg, a senior lecturer at RUDN University, said in his Telegram channel that, surprisingly, US President Trump did not support the strikes of India's ally on Pakistan.

"He called them a 'disgrace.' This is a new world, new States and their new president, who is not shy about recognizing Crimea and sticking Israel for the sake of an alliance with Erdogan. In general, the Indians and Pakistanis can still give a head start to the war in Ukraine. Brzezinski also warned that the more dangerous region in the future is not the Global Balkans (Middle East), but East Asia," the expert noted.