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Comment by rjzzleep | Hacker News Reader

Part of the article makes it sound like there was no physical person close to the vehicle with the rifle, other parts make it sound like the rifle was merely AI assisted, whatever that may mean. At the very least people assembled the whole thing and probably drove it to the target location also.

At least the NYT article seems a bit better, and looking at the picture in the NYT article it seems like there were quite a few shots fired.

I wish there was some more detailed information here.

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The big difference is that with the robot, the hit team has already left the country.

How did they get the pick up truck close to him them? Put it at a stationary location that he usually drove by? Or remote/self driving? Or hired someone local that didn't know the full plot?

My understanding is that a big part of this type of operation is understanding their target, the patterns and schedule they move by, and then selecting a good spot that is going to work to take them out when they aren’t expecting it or prepared, and they have a good opportunity to escape or not get caught.

So most likely left there the night before (or even longer), they knew when he would be by (and it wasn’t going to be a one-off), and there you go.

I think something similar happened with the Carrero Blanco assassination by the ETA in Spain. They cased him, rented an apartment and then did their thing.

Apparently it’s the ‘professional’ way to do it, and it’s pretty terrifying if you’re a potential target of someone with the resources and desire to do something like this. It is almost impossible to defend against, except perhaps by making the consequences of attempting or succeeding not worth the cost to anyone who might be interested and able. I think this is generally the US approach, but looking at the past it clearly isn’t 100% successful.

The US Secret Service has had several folks who aren’t worried about consequences sneak through and severely injure - or depending on your pet theory regarding JFK - kill presidents.

It was his regular route I believe

Asking the right questions.

Read the NYT article, it explains the whole thing

The article said he was killed "as he was driving his wife to their country home east of Tehran". So it's probable that the Israelis knew about his house in the country and found out when he'd be going, and picked out a spot on the route that would serve the purpose, maybe on a part of the road that very few people use.

Is that more or less ethical than artillery, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, nuclear missiles, suicide bombers, ieds, weaponized drones, proxy wars, etc.?

I would say more ethical, because there was no collateral damage

From the article:

> Fakhrizadeh was shot at least four times by the smart rifle, which was hidden in a pickup truck a short distance away.

> Israeli operatives smuggled the weapon and its parts piecemeal into Iran before reassembling it.

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