A New York Times report said that US Special Operations forces used a secret missile designed specifically to kill the head of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria this month, which dealt a heavy blow to the "terrorist" organization with a weapon that combined medieval brutality and modern technology.
US and al-Qaeda officials said yesterday that Khaled al-Arouri, the de facto leader of the al-Qaeda branch called "Haras al-Din", was killed on June 14 by a drone in Idlib, northwestern Syria.
As for his death, the newspaper stated that it was "more strange", as he used a modified "Hellfire" missile that was carrying an inactive warhead. Instead of exploding, about a hundred pounds of metal penetrated the upper part of Al-Arouri's car.
The newspaper commented that if the projectile had not killed it at its high speed, then it is certain that the other feature of the missile killed it, which is six folded blades inside it that spread within seconds of the collision, explaining anything on its way.
She noted that this missile, known as the R9X, was initially developed about a decade ago under pressure from President Barack Obama to reduce civilian casualties and property damage in America's long wars of terrorism in remote hotspots such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Yemen.
US officials have said that the weapon may have been used six times in recent years when it was locating a prominent "terrorist" leader, but other weapons could risk killing nearby civilians.
The newspaper report stated that conventional Hellfire missiles with an explosive head weighing about 20 pounds are often used against groups of individuals or so-called "valuable targets" who meet other militants. But when the Special Operations Forces chase a single commander, the R9X is now often the weapon of choice.
US officials confirmed the use of this exceptional weapon in two specific cases, one by the CIA and the other by the Army's Joint Special Operations Command.
The New York Times report stated that the use of this type of missile is consistent with the pressure of the American army to use small munitions to kill targets, and this missile appeared during the air campaigns against ISIS in Syria and Syria in an attempt to avoid civilian casualties.
The newspaper pointed out that the new Al-Qaeda branch, "Guardians of Religion", appeared at the beginning of 2018 after several factions separated from a larger branch in Syria. Initially he was leading the group of Guardians of Religion, Abu Hammam al-Shami, a veteran of al-Qaeda, but a UN report said last year that al-Arouri assumed responsibility for the organization at some point.