2025: Pakistan's Biggest Military Escalation With India In Decades

Islamabad- The year 2025 witnessed the most significant military escalation between India and Pakistan in decades. This conflict challenged both the internal and external foundations of cash-strapped Pakistan, leaving the state at a critical crossroads.

In the summer of 2025, India launched coordinated missile strikes, codenamed“Operation Sindoor”, to dismantle terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and its occupied part of Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed.

Modern weapons, including drones, missiles and other equipment, were put into operation, alarming the world that the crisis could spiral out of control into a full-blown war.

Hours after the strikes in the wee hours of May 7, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the action was taken after intelligence reports showed that“further attacks against India were impending”.

“Therefore, it was necessary to take preemptive and precautionary strikes,” he said.

At least a dozen Pakistani military aircraft, including US-origin F-16 jets, were destroyed or damaged in Indian strikes, according to India's Air Chief Marshal A P Singh.

The intense clashes between the two countries ended with an understanding to halt the military actions after four days on May 10.

Pakistan employed Chinese hardware during the conflict, highlighting its dependence on Beijing's defence technology. Apart from China, Pakistan got steady support from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Though the conflict was managed, it shattered long-standing assumptions about nuclear deterrence, proving that conventional“surgical” strikes could occur without escalating into full-scale war.

President Donald Trump invited Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, who was later elevated to the rank of Field Marshal, to the White House for dinner. Munir was successful in casting a charm on Trump, and the latter spent the next several months parroting that some“beautiful jets” were destroyed in the conflict and claiming that he helped end the conflict. Trump never identified whose jets were damaged.

India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries.

Next came the defence deal with Saudi Arabia. The Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) signed in September 2025 formalised the long-standing security cooperation between the two countries.

“The agreement states that any aggression against either country shall be considered an aggression against both,” according to the Joint Statement issued after the two countries inked the agreement.

MENAFN31122025000215011059ID1110543268