US air forces in Syria use rare Hellfire missile to kill two targets

By Kenneth Garger, New York Post, December 3, 2019

https://nypost.com/2019/12/03/us-air-forces-in-syria-use-rare-hellfire-missile-to-kill-two-targets/

Contract workers load a Hellfire missile onto a U.S. Air Force MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at a secret air base in the Persian Gulf region. Getty Images

American forces reportedly carried out an airstrike in northwestern Syria Tuesday, killing two people in a minivan just 10 miles from the compound where ISIS fiend Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died during a US-raid in October.

The projectile used in the attack in Atmeh is believed to be a rare Hellfire missile known as the AGM-114R9X — which instead of a traditional warhead, has sword-like blades that protrude out of it, according The Warzone.

STAHLKOCHER/WIKICOMMONS

AGM-114 internal configuration.

The publication cited a report that said the dead targets were “mashed” from the impact of the weapon.

Another report said one of the van’s occupants was also believed to be part of a group that splintered from Al Qaeda in 2017, called the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham.

Photos from the scene — which is in Idlib province — shows sizable damage to the front passenger side of the van, while the rest of the vehicle remained generally intact.

The previous known use of the AGM-114R was on May 9, 2019