The announcement by the United States Army of the operation that ended the life of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the man who still led al-Qaeda, raised the question of how it could have been carried out without injury.
Authorities say Ayman al-Zawahiri’s death was made possible by rocket fire while he was on the balcony of the house where he was hiding.
The CIA is believed to have used the Hellfire R9X missile, a modified version of the Hellfire precision missile, in this operation. which is capable of generating so much damage that it can easily destroy a building with just one hit. This is due to the large amount of explosive charge that this type of ammunition possesses.
However, in the case of the rocket used to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, a different version was used in which the explosive charge was replaced with a series of flying blades.designed in such a way that when they hit, they cause the maximum possible damage in a small area and kill everyone who is nearby.
The reason it is assumed that the attack was carried out by one of these missiles is because In published images from the impact site, the floor where the terrorist was located showed a moderate degree of destruction, while the rest of the building remained without visible damage..
In accordance with Wall Street Magazine The Hellfire R9X is a relatively new variant of this type of rocket, and its development took place during the presidency of President Barack Obama.. The idea behind its creation was to be able to perform attacks with a higher degree of accuracy without causing excessive damage in areas close to the main target.
These missiles are expected to be deployed from the MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1C Gray Eagle, two of the army’s most commonly used combat drones.
Hellfire R9X missiles are also believed to have been used in the 2017 attack that killed Abu Khair al-Masri, another al-Qaeda leader.. At that time, the terrorist was driving in a car when a rocket hit him.
This resulted in the destruction of the top of the car, while other parts of the car remained intact.