NEW DELHI: Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi offered fresh insights into Operation Sindoor, describing it as a high-stakes “game of chess” fought in the “grey zone” of warfare. Speaking at IIT Madras on Saturday, during the inauguration of the Indian Army Research Cell, Dwivedi explained that the operation was a carefully calibrated military response, short of a conventional war but designed to deliver decisive blows.“In Operation Sindoor, we played chess. We did not know what the enemy’s next move was going to be, and what we were going to do. This is called the grey zone,” he said. “Somewhere we were giving them the checkmate and somewhere we were going in for the kill at the risk of losing our own — but that’s what life is all about.”Recounting the days following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, Dwivedi said, “On the 23rd, the next day itself, we all sat down. This was the first time that RM [Defence Minister Rajnath Singh] said, ‘Enough is enough.’ The free hand was given — ‘you decide what is to be done’. That is the kind of confidence, political direction and political clarity we saw for the first time.”He added that by April 25, the Northern Command had planned and executed strikes on seven of nine identified targets, destroying terrorist infrastructure and killing large numbers of militants.The COAS said the operation galvanised the country. “That is something which galvanised the whole nation. That is the reason the whole nation was saying why have you stopped? That question was being asked and it has been amply answered,” he remarked.On Friday, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh also disclosed, for the first time, the number of Pakistani assets destroyed. “We have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft… the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill,” he said, adding that radar sites, air defence systems and aircraft hangars were also targeted. Singh credited the “very clear political will” of the government for giving the armed forces complete operational freedom.Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, was India’s response to the Pahalgam attack, targeting terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.