On the night of June 27, local time, the US Central Command launched a drone attack on the eastern outskirts of idlib city in northwestern Syria, killing a local armed faction leader affiliated with al-Qaida while riding a motorcycle along a dirt road.
According to reports, a statement issued by U.S. Central Command said that at the time of the attack, Abu Hamzah Yemini, the leader of the Group Hurras al Din, was riding alone on a motorcycle, and preliminary examinations indicated that the attack had caused no civilian casualties.
Images from the scene showed the twisted wreckage of a motorcycle scattered on the ground, suggesting that the missile hit the target directly.
U.S. Central Command did not disclose the weapons used to carry out the assassination of Yemini, but has deployed the dreaded R9X Hellfire Ninja missiles for similar "surgical" strikes in the past.
Masked members of the Hulastin group gathered at the scene of the attack shortly after the attack, taking with them the wreckage of Yemini and a motorcycle.
It is reported that the R9X Hellfire missile has become one of the precision assassination weapons favored by the US military because of its low risk of collateral damage.
During Obama's presidency, the U.S. military developed the Ninja missile and abandoned the use of explosive warheads over concerns about the number of civilians killed in drone attacks in the Middle East.
Hellfire Ninja Missile Schematic.
Instead, the R9X's tip is fitted with 45 kilograms of reinforced metal and has 6 extendable blades that "shred" the target on impact without triggering an explosion that could cause fatal damage to people nearby.
The attack on the night of the 27th was the second U.S. operation against high-level armed personnel in Syria in June.
On June 16, U.S. forces captured Islamic State leader Hani Ahmed Kurdi in a raid in Aleppo province.
On February 3 this year, U.S. forces killed Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim Hashemi Kulahih in an operation in the Atami region of Idlib province.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin