An emergency meeting was called barely forty minutes after the third wave of missile strikes hit central Dilrik.
The Prime Minister arrived at the government crisis chamber three minutes later, and the atmosphere inside the building already felt suffocating.
Government staff hurried through the hallways carrying stacks of reports and tablets. Phones rang endlessly from every corner of the building. Television screens mounted along the walls showed live footage from across the country: burning railway stations, collapsed roads, overcrowded hospitals, smoke rising into the night sky, civilians crying beside ambulances that had nowhere left to go.
The nation had been hit so badly that it felt like it was beginning to crack.
The guards outside the chamber doors straightened immediately when the prime minister approached.
"Sir."
He gave a short nod and pushed the doors open.
The room was already packed.
