India and Pakistan engaged in the most intense fighting in decades with four days of escalating conflict that included fighter jets, missiles and drones packed with explosives. It ended almost as abruptly as it began.

A low-quality image of an Indian fighter jet engulfed in flames after crashing in September 2024 has been falsely claimed online to show an Indian jet downed amid escalated tensions between India and Pakistan in May 2025.

Some details are clouded by contradictory statements and disinformation. But a pattern of rapid escalation brought the conflict to the brink of catastrophe.

After days of intense firefights, Indian and Pakistani authorities say there were no reported incidents of firing overnight along the heavily militarized region between their countries.

Tensions between Islamabad and New Dehli escalate after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in Kashmir last month.

New developments in the nuclear powers’ harrowing four-day conflict, along with entrenched religious nationalism on each side, could signal more frequent battles ahead.

India hit Pakistan with air strikes deep into the country, killing dozens, but Pakistan claimed to have shot down multiple Indian planes. (The details of that claim remain murky.) India accused Pakistan of a drone attack near the Kashmiri line of control,

With last-minute U.S. mediation, cooler heads prevailed between India and Pakistan. But a flare-up is inevitable.