surgical strike

Noun

surgical strike (plural surgical strikes)

1. A military attack of closely-controlled scope on a highly specific target.
   • Kennedy at the time was greatly concerned over reports that the Chinese Communists were secretly conducting nuclear explosions at Lop Nor in Northwest China—a sure indication they were working on atomic weapons. This was the period when Moscow and Peking were still close to each other, otherwise it...1983, James C. H. Shen, “Rejoining the Government”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally, Washington, D.C.: Acropolis Books Ltd., →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 39
   • Months later, Modi ordered a surgical strike on alleged insurgents inside Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, and vowed to isolate Islamabad diplomatically.2017 August 10, Ashok Sharma, “AP Explains: 70 years of India-Pakistan tensions unresolved”, in AP News, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2022