India and Pakistan exchanged fresh missile and drone strikes overnight May 9 and into the early hours of May 10, targeting each other's key airbases, and in the process signalling a dangerous intensification in the ongoing hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

This marked the fourth consecutive day of military confrontation following the start of India’s Operation Sindoor, launched in retaliation for the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam that killed 26 civilians. As a counter to India’s Operation Sindoor, the Pakistani military has also declared Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos and the two nations are spiraling towards higher and higher levels of escalation. The choice of the name Bunyan Ul Marsoos refers to a wall of molten lead and is reportedly taken from the Quran.

In a press briefing on the evening of May 9, Indian Airforce officials claimed that Pakistan had used between 300 and 400 Turkish origin drones targeting both military and civilian targets across its northern states including Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Punjab.

Pakistan’s Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed during a state TV broadcast early on May 10 that Pakistan’s Nur Khan, Shorkot and Murid air bases were targeted by the Indian military but didn’t suffer any damage.

In turn India confirmed in its press briefing a few hours later, on the morning of May 10, that its own air bases in Udhampur, Pathankot, Aadamur and Bhuj were targeted and sustained limited damage to both personnel and equipment. India also alleged that Pakistan was moving a large number of its troops into forward staging areas.

India further confirmed that social media reports about Pakistan successfully striking Brahmos missile storage facilities in India, or its S400 air defence system sites were false and were part of a deliberate disinformation campaign by Pakistan.