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NEW DELHI: Chief of Army Staff Gen Upendra Dwivedi offered fresh insights into Operation Sindoor<\/a>, describing it as a high-stakes \u201cgame of chess\u201d fought in the \u201cgrey zone\u201d 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.\u201cIn Operation Sindoor, we played chess. We did not know what the enemy\u2019s next move was going to be, and what we were going to do. This is called the grey zone,\u201d he said. \u201cSomewhere we were giving them the checkmate and somewhere we were going in for the kill at the risk of losing our own \u2014 but that\u2019s what life is all about.\u201dRecounting the days following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 people, Dwivedi said, \u201cOn the 23rd, the next day itself, we all sat down. This was the first time that RM [Defence Minister Rajnath Singh] said, \u2018Enough is enough.\u2019 The free hand was given \u2014 \u2018you decide what is to be done\u2019. That is the kind of confidence, political direction and political clarity we saw for the first time.\u201dHe 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. \u201cThat 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,\u201d he remarked.On Friday, Air Chief Marshal AP Singh also disclosed, for the first time, the number of Pakistani assets destroyed. \u201cWe have at least five fighters confirmed kills and one large aircraft\u2026 the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill,\u201d he said, adding that radar sites, air defence systems and aircraft hangars were also targeted. Singh credited the \u201cvery clear political will\u201d of the government for giving the armed forces complete operational freedom.Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, was India\u2019s response to the Pahalgam attack, targeting terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.<\/div>\n