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This week\u2019s clashes between Pakistan and India<\/a> are the most serious escalation in tensions between these two historic foes in decades with millions on both sides of their border now wondering what might come next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite a vow to \u201cavenge\u201d India\u2019s strikes on its territory, Pakistan has yet to retaliate in kind on India, and both sides appear to have already claimed victory. But hostilities continue.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Palpable panic rocked both nations Wednesday after New Delhi launched targeted military strikes<\/a> on its neighbor, while Islamabad claimed it had shot down its rival\u2019s fighter jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday, Pakistan claimed it downed at least 25 Indian loitering munition drones across the country overnight, in what it called a new \u201cserious provocation\u201d from New Delhi that wounded four of soldiers and killed a civilian. CNN cannot independently verify these claims and has reached out to the Indian Air Force and Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fear is that each additional confrontational step by either side could quickly spiral into an all out conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indian media was euphoric after Wednesday\u2019s strikes. \u201cStrokes of justice,\u201d ran an editorial from one of India\u2019s leading English newspapers commending the country\u2019s \u201csharp\u201d and \u201cresolute\u201d response to the massacre of 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir, at the hands of militants. A headline from The Indian Express echoed a similar tune: \u201cJustice Served\u201d it said across the front page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Pakistan, the public response from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was similarly bellicose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has vowed to \u201cavenge\u201d the deaths of 31 people Pakistan says were killed in India\u2019s strikes but still appeared to declare triumph for its apparent shooting of India\u2019s airplanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt only took a few hours for the enemy to fall on its knees,\u201d he said in a late-night address to the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n India says it struck \u201cterrorist infrastructure\u201d belonging to two Islamist groups \u2013 Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed \u2013 who have been accused of being behind some the deadliest militant attacks on the country. Wednesday\u2019s strikes did not target military infrastructure and didn\u2019t kill civilians, New Delhi said, potentially giving India and Pakistan an opportunity to find a way to avoid an all-out war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One location India struck was deep in Pakistan\u2019s Punjab province, the deepest attack in Pakistan\u2019s undisputed territory since both countries fought a major war in 1971. It also targeted multiple other locations in Punjab \u2013 the heartland of the powerful military and home of the Sharif government \u2013 and hit a mosque, according to Pakistani officials, angering millions in the Muslim-majority nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What happens now, analysts say, mostly depends on Islamabad\u2019s next move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll eyes are on Pakistan,\u201d said Washington-based South Asia analyst, Michael Kugelman. \u201cIf it decides to save face and claim victory \u2014 perhaps by pointing to the downing of Indian jets (which New Delhi has not confirmed) \u2014 and call it a day, an off ramp could be in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he warned \u201call bets would be off\u201d should Pakistan decide to strike back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n