SRINAGAR, India — A series of military strikes last week by India and Pakistan brought the nuclear-armed rivals closer to a broader war. The possibility of a nuclear conflagration seemed real and the fighting only stopped when global powers intervened.
Experts say the crisis deepened the neighbors' rivalry as both crossed a threshold with each striking the other with high-speed missiles and drones. The tit-for-tat strikes also brought Kashmir again into global focus, as the U.S. President Donald Trump offered mediation over the simmering dispute that has long been described as the regional nuclear flashpoint.
Paul Staniland, South Asia expert and a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, said the four days of fighting shows that ''India now feels substantial space to directly target Pakistan, as well as that Pakistan is willing to escalate in response.''
Unlike in past years, when fighting was largely limited to Kashmir, the two armies last week fired missiles and drones at each other's military installations deep inside their cities and exchanged gunfire and heavy artillery along their frontier in Kashmir.
Dozens of people were killed on both sides. Each claimed it inflicted heavy damage on the other and said its strikes met the country's objectives.
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The fighting began Wednesday after India retaliated for last month's attack that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, in Kashmir, a Himalayan territory claimed in entirety by both nations. India blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, an accusation Islamabad denied, saying no evidence was shared.
The Indian military said it could again strike Pakistan if it felt threatened. Pakistan's military also warned against any violation of the country's sovereignty and vowed to respond.
