From Neptune Spear to Wooden Leg: India's Operation Sindoor joins history's bold counterterror strikes
Like these precedents, India's Operation Sindoor struck terrorist infrastructure with precision. The coordinated strikes destroyed camps linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen, targetting facilities responsible for attacks including the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. Military officials have emphasised that the operation avoided civilian casualties while dismantling terrorist training and staging areas up to 100km inside Pakistani territory.
US: Operation Neptune Spear (2011)
On May 2, 2011, the United States conducted Operation Neptune Spear, in which SEAL Team Six killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The operation targetted bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. This raid involved US forces operating without Pakistani authorisation roughly 120 miles (193km) inside Pakistani territory.
US: Operation Infinite Reach (1998)
Operation Infinite Reach was the code name for American cruise missile strikes on al-Qaeda bases launched on August 20, 1998. The US Navy targetted the al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan, and terrorist training camps in Khost Province, Afghanistan, in retaliation for the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These strikes represented the first major American response to al-Qaeda terrorist attacks.
Israel: Operation Entebbe (1976)
On July 3-4, 1976, Israeli commandos conducted a hostage rescue mission at Entebbe Airport in Uganda, where terrorists had been holding 106 Israeli and Jewish passengers from a hijacked Air France flight. Israeli transport planes flew 100 commandos over 4,000 kilometers to Uganda, successfully rescuing 102 hostages. The operation targetted members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and German Revolutionary Cells, who had demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel: Operation Spring of Youth (1973)
The 1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon (known as Operation Spring of Youth) took place on April 9-10, 1973, when Israeli special forces attacked several Palestine Liberation Organization targets in Beirut and Sidon. The operation specifically targeted three senior PLO officials: Kamal Adwan, Mohammed Youssef Najjar, and Kamal Nasser, who were killed in retaliation for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.
Russia: Operations in Chechnya/Georgia
In August 2002, Russia conducted a series of airstrikes on purported Chechen separatist havens in the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia. Russia accused Georgia of allowing Chechen militants to operate on Georgian territory and permitting the flow of fighters and materials across the border. These cross-border operations were part of Russia's broader counter-insurgency campaign against Chechen separatists.
Colombia: Operation Phoenix/Operación Fénix (2008)
Operación Fénix (Operation Phoenix) was an attack by the Colombian military against a camp of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 1.8km over the border in Sucumbíos Province, Ecuador, on March 1, 2008. The operation specifically targetted and killed Raúl Reyes, a high-ranking member of FARC's leadership council. This was a significant blow to the FARC organisation and caused diplomatic tensions between Colombia and Ecuador.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
4-5 militants ‘trapped', 2 soldiers injured as Kulgam operation enters third day
An operation being carried out by security forces in South Kashmir's Kulgam district, in which at least one militant was killed and two soldiers injured so far, has entered its third day on Sunday. Officials said that intermittent exchanges of fire between security forces personnel and militants continued on Sunday, after the joint team of forces cordoned off Akhal village in Kulgam on Friday. Police and Army personnel believe that a group of four to five militants are trapped in the area, officials said. One militant was killed on the first day of the gunfight. Over the last two days, two soldiers have been injured in the exchange of fire. They were rushed to hospital and their condition is said to be stable. On Friday evening, a joint team of Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Army and paramilitary forces cordoned off Akhal village in south Kashmir after getting inputs about the presence of militants in the area. As the joint team of forces zeroed in on the target area, militants opened fire, leading to a gunfight, officials said. Soon after the exchange of fire, security forces rushed reinforcements to Akhal, and the cordon of the area was expanded to prevent the militants from escaping. This is the second major gunfight reported in Kashmir in the past week. Last week, three Pakistani militants were killed in a firefight in a mountainous area on the outskirts of Srinagar. Union Home Minister Amit Shah later said in Parliament that the militants killed in that gunfight were responsible for the April 22 terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, where 25 tourists and a local pony rider were killed in the Baisaran meadow. The incident had drawn widespread condemnation and escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. It also led to an intensified crackdown on militancy in Kashmir. Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More
Indian Express
7 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Punjab man, who inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan, sentenced to one-month imprisonment
Amritpal Singh, a 23-year-old farmer from Punjab's Ferozepur district, who inadvertently crossed over to Pakistan, has been sentenced to one-month imprisonment by a court in the neighbouring nation, his father Jugraj Singh said on Saturday. Jugraj Singh urged the Centre and the Punjab government to take appropriate steps to bring back his son to India. Amritpal, a resident of Khaire ke Uttar village in the Ferozepur district, went missing along the India-Pakistan border on June 21 after he went to tend his farmland located across the barbed fencing near the border outpost (BOP) Rana under the Border Security Force (BSF) supervision. He failed to return before the gate was scheduled to close around 5 pm. Amritpal, who is married and has a daughter, owns around 8.5 acres of farmland located beyond the border fencing on the Indian side. The BSF personnel later found human footprints heading towards the Pakistani side, raising the possibility of an unintentional border crossing. On June 27, the Pakistani Rangers confirmed to the BSF authorities that Amritpal was in the custody of local Pakistani police. Amritpal's father Jugraj on Saturday said he came to know that a case was registered against his son in Pakistan, and on July 28, he was sentenced to a one-month imprisonment. He said a Pakistan-based advocate sent him the copy of a court order as per which Amritpal has been charged under the Foreigner Act 1946. A fine of Rs 50,000 has also been imposed on him. In case of default, he will have to undergo additional 15 days of sentence. The court also directed the authorities concerned to make arrangements for his deportation after completion of his sentence. Amritpal spoke to his family in which he said that he was fine and currently lodged in a jail. His father urged the government to take appropriate steps so that his son be deported from Pakistan. Amritpal left on his motorcycle that afternoon but did not return in the evening. The BSF even reopened the frisking gate before dusk in search of him, but he could not be found. During summer months, farmers are allowed to access the land between the barbed-wire fence and the international border under strict BSF monitoring between 8 am and 5 pm.
Economic Times
22 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Appeals court keeps order blocking Trump administration from indiscriminate immigration sweeps
AP A federal appeals court ruled Friday night to uphold a lower court's temporary order blocking the Trump administration from conducting indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests in Southern California. A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held a hearing Monday afternoon at which the federal government asked the court to overturn a temporary restraining order issued July 12 by Judge Maame E. Frimpong, arguing it hindered their enforcement of immigration law. Immigrant advocacy groups filed suit last month, accusing President Donald Trump's administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in Southern California during the administration's crackdown on illegal immigration. The lawsuit included three detained immigrants and two U.S. citizens as plaintiffs. In her order, Frimpong said there was a "mountain of evidence" that federal immigration enforcement tactics were violating the Constitution. She wrote that the government cannot use factors such as apparent race or ethnicity, speaking Spanish or English with an accent, presence at a location such as a tow yard or car wash, or someone's occupation as the only basis for reasonable suspicion to detain someone. The appeals court panel agreed and questioned the government's need to oppose an order preventing them from violating the constitution. "If, as Defendants suggest, they are not conducting stops that lack reasonable suspicion, they can hardly claim to be irreparably harmed by an injunction aimed at preventing a subset of stops not supported by reasonable suspicion," the judges wrote. The Department of Homeland Security said being in the country illegally is what makes someone a target of immigration officers, not their skin colour, race or ethnicity. "Unelected judges are undermining the will of the American people," department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Saturday in an emailed statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are putting the American people first by removing illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities." A hearing for a preliminary injunction, which would be a more substantial court order as the lawsuit proceeds, is scheduled for September. Los Angeles a battleground over immigration policy The Los Angeles region has been a battleground with the Trump administration over its aggressive immigration strategy that spurred protests and the deployment of the National Guards and Marines for several weeks. Federal agents have rounded up immigrants without legal status to be in the US from Home Depots, car washes, bus stops, and farms, many of whom have lived in the country for decades. Among the plaintiffs is Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia, who was shown in a video taken by a friend on June 13 being seized by federal agents as he yells, "I was born here in the states, East LA bro!" They want to "send us back to a world where a U.S. citizen ... can be grabbed, slammed against a fence and have his phone and ID taken from him just because he was working at a tow yard in a Latino neighborhood," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Mohammad Tajsar told the court Monday. The federal government argued that it hadn't been given enough time to collect and present evidence in the lawsuit, given that it was filed shortly before the July 4 holiday and a hearing was held the following week. "It's a very serious thing to say that multiple federal government agencies have a policy of violating the Constitution," attorney Jacob Roth said. He also argued that the lower court's order was too broad, and that immigrant advocates did not present enough evidence to prove that the government had an official policy of stopping people without reasonable suspicion. He referred to the four factors of race, language, presence at a location, and occupation that were listed in the temporary restraining order, saying the court should not be able to ban the government from using them at all. He also argued that the order was unclear on what exactly is permissible under the law. "Legally, I think it's appropriate to use the factors for reasonable suspicion," Roth said The judges sharply questioned the government over their arguments. "No one has suggested that you cannot consider these factors at all," Judge Jennifer Sung said. However, those factors alone only form a "broad profile" and don't satisfy the reasonable suspicion standard to stop someone, she said. Sung, a Biden appointee, said that in an area like Los Angeles, where Latinos make up as much as half the population, those factors "cannot possibly weed out those who have undocumented status and those who have documented legal status." She also asked: "What is the harm to being told not to do something that you claim you're already not doing?" Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the Friday night decision a "victory for the rule of law" and said the city will protect residents from the "racial profiling and other illegal tactics" used by federal agents. (Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Zomato delivered, but did the other listed unicorns? US tariff hike to hit Indian exports, may push RBI towards rate cuts Will TCS layoffs open the floodgates of mass firing at Indian IT firms? Indian IT firms never reveal the truth hiding behind 'strong' deal wins Is Bajaj Finance facing its HDFC Bank moment? Tata Motors' INR38k crore Iveco buy: Factors that can make investors nervous Stock Radar: Strides Pharma stock hits fresh 52-week high in July; will the rally continue in August? F&O Radar| Deploy Short Strangle in Nifty to gain from Theta decay For investors who can think beyond Trump: 5 large-cap stocks with an upside potential of up to 36%
