Air defence units of the Pakistan Army in Sialkot and Lahore were heavily damaged amid drone attacks reported in 10 cities on Thursday, sources said. The strikes came a day after India launched 'Operation Sindoor', targeting terror camps in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26.
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00:00We're getting in more updates of what kind of a strike happened really in Lahore in Sialkot
00:05and the dent, the problem really the Pakistan army is suffering that the air defence unit is completely down.
00:11It's the HQ-9 missile defence system of the Pakistan army that suffered heavy damages in the drone attack.
00:18This is the Chinese based air defence system, the missile defence system that Pakistan has
00:24which is the much hyped HQ-9 missile defence system which is usually used to detect and block attacks.
00:32We understand it's this missile defence system that's now been hit.
00:37Huge breaking news coming in, sources telling us that the Pakistan army is now crippled in the skies.
00:43They rely heavily on the HQ-9 missile defence system Chinese made much hyped.
00:50They've relied on it to alert them of any movement in the skies.
00:54That particular missile system, the missile defence system has been hit out of action
01:00which means the Pakistan army has no way to be notified of what's coming their way.
01:06And this is a huge problem that the Pakistan army is dealing with.
01:10This is because of in fact strikes that have been reported in Lahore in Sialkot.
01:15We're tracking the latest updates that are coming in on this.
01:18It looks like these are drone strikes that have been reported in Lahore.
01:22Where does it come from?
01:23We'll await more word on that.
01:25But Shivani, just explain to us what this means.
01:27That the HQ-9 missile defence system is down.
01:31Does this effectively mean that the Pakistan army has no way of finding out what's headed their way?
01:37Akshita, if we talk about the HQ-9 defence systems, the missile defence system that have been installed by the Pakistani army are the systems,
01:48they are the long-range missile defence systems that are surface-to-air missile defence systems that have been installed from China.
01:55So they have taken this from China.
01:58These were Chinese air defence systems that were installed close to the borders to, of course, neutralise any kind of aerial threats that come Pakistan's way.
02:07But what we are coming to know is that these systems have now been damaged.
02:11So now Pakistan has been under a heavy loss and damage, especially in this area of Lahore in Sialkot.
02:20And that means that the claims that it has been making, there is some development in Pakistan's side.
02:26It has suffered heavy damages on other locations also, where it has been claiming that some kind of a drone attack has hit it in 12 places.
02:35So we have to wait for more official confirmation, but this is in fact a big blow to Pakistan in terms of its own defence.
02:45When the air defence systems have been damaged out there, these HQ-9 defence systems, the missile systems that are installed by it close to the border to defend its airspace have been now damaged.
02:58Damaged they have, there are reports of heavy damages on them, there was Chinese systems that were installed at there.
03:05And remember there is a lot of stake of China inside Pakistan in terms of its equipment, the defence equipment, especially the drones and air defence systems.
03:13Is the Pakistan army now effectively defenceless?
03:17They simply can't see what's coming their way.
03:19The HQ-9 is their missile defence system.
03:22It's a Chinese long-range air defence system.
03:25What it does is essentially track incoming threats and then neutralise them mid-air.
03:30It's very similar to the Russian S-300.
03:32Now we are hearing that it is this missile system that's down.
03:37It's been hit in drone strikes that have been reported in Lahore, in Siakota as well, and another city which we're still confirming right now.
03:45But what this effectively means is that in Lahore, Pakistan doesn't seem to have any air defence system that's functional right now.
03:55Let me just remind you that Lahore is also the place where Hafiz Syed, the LET chief, is currently hiding.
04:01And amid that, amid questions also about whether we could see Hafiz Syed being targeted,
04:07the strikes that happened as part of Operation Sindhur was in Muridke.
04:11A few hours, about one hour away from Lahore.
04:15And now in Lahore, after we got these images, these videos from just a few hours ago of panic,
04:21with air raid sirens blaring, with explosions being heard,
04:25we can tell you that the Pakistan Army's air defence system,
04:30the much hyped HQ-9 Chinese-made missile defence system in Lahore has been hit.
04:36And that means that the Pakistan Army has no way of tracking what's happening around its skies in Lahore.
04:43It's a huge, huge dent for the Pakistan Army.
04:47No statement yet that's coming from the army, not really surprising,
04:50because they're not exactly known to be transparent.
04:52But in Lahore, this has happened.
04:54In Sialkot too, this has happened.
04:56And in another city as well.
04:58The nature of these strikes, we don't know just yet, but suspected to be a drone strike.
05:02I want to bring in Gaurav Savan for more on this.
05:05Because, Gaurav, this is huge.
05:06Does this mean that the Pakistan Army has no way, Gaurav,
05:09no way of seeing what's coming its way in Lahore?
05:13Not just in Lahore, but in multiple locations,
05:16Pakistan's air defence systems now stand compromised along the India-Pakistan border.
05:23And this has happened in at least three to five different locations.
05:28If you were to move from Karachi towards,
05:31so you have the Sindh province, you have the Punjab province,
05:33and you have Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the international border.
05:38So we are told at multiple different locations, including in Lahore and near Sialkot,
05:44and two other locations, Pakistan's air defence systems,
05:47the Chinese-made systems, stand neutralised.
05:50There have also been certain reports that are emanating from Pakistan
05:53that speak of damage that has been suffered internally in Pakistan,
06:00and apparently severe damage, including in some instances,
06:05losses of military lives that has happened.
06:08But that is what Pakistan is claiming.
06:10We still have to wait for an independent confirmation on this.
06:13But the situation does appear that Pakistan's attempt to escalate the situation
06:20has had consequences, Akshata.
06:23Okay, this is the big breaking news that's coming in right now.
06:26The Pakistani army's air defence systems in Lahore, in Sialkot, have been hit.
06:31These are Chinese-made HQ-9 air defence systems,
06:35the missile defence system that's been hit right now.