"My heart, love, gratitude with every single soldier out there": Former Indian Tennis Player Leander Paes applauds Indian Army

Former Indian Tennis Player Leander Paes expressed his love and gratitude to all young women and men of the Indian Armed Forces for their execution of the Operation Sindoor.

"All the young women and young men. Have gone out to represent the Tiranga. My heart, my love and my gratitude go out to every single soldier out there. Every single young woman and young man who went out there. In the middle of the night, in the middle of the day. To allow us to sleep easy. And went out there to keep us safe. Went out there to protect our country. I'd like to say thank you very much," Leander Paes told reporters.

"For your dedication, your hard work, your passion for putting your lives on the line. And to all their families. I would like to bow my head in gratitude. Thank you for keeping India safe. Thank you for keeping us Indians safe. You are true sons and daughters of the soil," he added.

India had launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 after the ghastly terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. The terror attack had killed 26 people. India had struck nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan sought to up the ante with a series of unprovoked escalations using artillery guns and drones. On the night of May 7-8, Pakistan attempted to engage a number of military targets in Northern and Western India including Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai, and Bhuj, using drones and missiles. These were neutralised by the Integrated Counter UAS Grid and Air Defence systems.

Escalating its tensions with India, Pakistan targeted Jammu using Hamas-style missiles to target multiple areas on Thursday, defence sources had told ANI. The sources said the attack resembled a Hamas-style operation in Israel, where multiple cheap rockets were used to target cities.'In a decisive response to Pakistan's aggressive actions along the western border and Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Armed Forces on May 10 targeted critical Pakistani military installations, including technical facilities, command and control centres, radar sites, and ammunition strongholds.

Precision strikes were carried out on Pakistani military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, and Chunian, as well as radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation bases, using air-launched weapons from Indian fighter aircraft. Notably, India's Operation Sindoor, which was the country's military retaliation to the brutal Pahalgam attack in Jammu and Kashmir, has achieved all three key objectives--military, political, and psychological, according to sources.

The operation was marked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declaration of destroying key terror camps across Pakistan, including those in Bahawalpur, Muridke, and Muzaffarabad. However, both countries agreed to a cessation of hostilities on May 10. Hours after both countries agreed to stop all firing and military action on land, in the air, and sea, reports came of Pakistan violating the cessation of hostilities with India's air defence intercepting Pakistani drones amid a blackout in Srinagar. (ANI)