[12] The heightened tensions stemmed from the 14 February 2019 Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 40 Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

[14][15] Twelve days later, in the early morning of 26 February 2019, India carried out a cross-border airstrike near Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

[16][17] Pakistan's military, the first to announce the airstrike that same morning,[18] claimed that Indian warplanes had crossed the international border and dropped their payload in an uninhabited wooded hilltop area near Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

[23][24][25] On the same hours of PAF retaliatory strikes on 27 February 2019, an Indian Mi-17 helicopter was brought down by friendly fire in which all IAF airmen on board were killed, including Squadron Leaders Siddharth Vashisht and Ninad Mandavgan.

[27][26] Resultantly Group Captain Suman Roy Choudhry Chief Operations Officers (COO) of Srinagar Air Force Station was dismissed from his service in 2023.

[28] Aftermath analysis of open-source satellite imagery by the American Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Laboratory,[29] San Francisco-based Planet Labs,[30] European Space Imaging[31] and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute[32] concluded that India did not hit any targets of significance on the Jaba hilltop site near Balakot in Pakistan.

[33][34] On 10 April 2019, one and a half months later, a group of international journalists, who were taken to the Jaba hilltop in a tightly controlled trip arranged by the Pakistani government, although unable to make a knowledgeable evaluation,[35][36] found the largest building there to show no evidence of damage or recent rebuilding efforts.

[64] Praveen Swami writing for Firstpost said that Indian intelligence estimated a figure of about 20 casualties and that there were five confirmed kills per burial records.

[65] He also said there was a JeM rally in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on 28 February, wherein Masood Azhar's brother, Abdul Rauf Rasheed Alvi mentioned India's attack of their headquarters and vowed revenge.

[65] In another piece he stated that RAW analysts estimated 90 casualties including three Pakistani Army trainers, based on intercepted communications.

[66] Villagers from the area said that four bombs struck a nearby forest and a field resulting in damage to a building and injuring a local man around 3:00 am.

[67][68][69] On 28 February 2019, Pakistani Reuters reporters Asif Shahzad, Abu Arqam Naqash reported that the structure and its vicinity (of the bomb site) to be intact from the rear,[68] however on 8 March 2019, the Reuters media team was prevented for third time from climbing hill to the closely guarded madrasa site in Balakot.

[70] Some diplomats and analysts have raised doubts about the efficacy of the strike, stating that the terrorist groups along the border would have vacated the area, after the Indian Prime Minister vowed to retaliate against the Pulwama attack.

[68][69] Satellite-data analysis by Nathan Ruser, from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said there was an absence of any apparent evidence to verify Indian statements.

[61][72][73] Michael Sheldon, a digital forensics analyst at the Atlantic Council, did an independent investigation on the issue, in which he said that no damage was caused to any infrastructure around the target site.

[68] In April 2019, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj officially revealed that no Pakistani soldier or civilian was hurt in Balakot air raids.

[80][81] Heavy skirmishes between Pakistani and Indian forces occurred along the Line of Control on 26 February, with small arms and mortar fire being exchanged.

[88] On 27 February, Pakistani military officials announced that Pakistan had carried out an airstrike against multiple targets in Jammu and Kashmir.

][89] Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the airstrikes only aimed to "send a message" and appealed for negotiations to avoid a full-blown war.

[42] India rejected this version of events and stated to have "successfully foiled" Pakistan's attempt to "target military installations".

[102] The Indian military later stated that three Pakistan Air Force jets had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) from Nowshera, Jammu and Kashmir and had dropped bombs over Nadian, Laam Jhangar, Kerri in Rajouri District and Hamirpur area of Bhimber Galli in Poonch, before being pushed back by six Indian airforce jets.

[107] The retaliatory air strikes coupled with the capture of the Indian pilot led to a heightened state of military alert.

[112][113] A video published by the state just prior to his release that showed him praising Pakistani Army and condemning Indian media was criticized for being heavily edited.

[114][115] In the same hours of PAF retaliatory airstrikes in Jammu and Kashmir on 27 February 2019, IAF mistakenly shot down its own MI-17 helicopter, mistaking it an enemy aircraft.

[27] IAF convened an enquiry commission in which Group Captain Suman Roy Choudhry Chief Operations Officers (COO) of Srinagar Air Force Station during PAF airstrikes, was dismissed from his service in 2023.

[135] Air India suffered loss of ₹491 Crore till 2 July, as it had to reroute its flights that were affected by the closure of Pakistani airspace.