Inside the Mossad's pinpoint Iranian operation: An open-source intelligence scan reveals what happened during the lead-up and the fateful moments that tipped the balance of terror
According to one scenario, Fakhrizadeh was already mortally injured — even before the blue truck exploded — by shots fired from the remote-controlled machine gun concealed on the back of the blue Nissan truck.
Another version takes account of the fact that Fakhrizadeh’s death could not have been confirmed unless there was a team of assassins physically present at the scene. After the explosion, the operatives must have moved in on the vehicle, taking out any surviving guards.
Under this theory, there was still one bodyguard inside the locked car, behind a prone Fakhrizadeh in the driver’s seat and his wife beside him. Now a small explosive or other device was used to smash the panel window of the car’s left rear door, through which the assassins were able to insert a 9mm pistol and neutralize the man in the driver’s seat with a bullet to the back of the head. The damage to the windshield would have been caused by shots from inside the vehicle. The discovery of a 9mm bullet casing on the back seat backs up this scenario.
In all, two minutes elapsed from the beginning of the operation to its end. The only person left alive was Fakhrizadeh’s wife. Outside the car lay a body with a mortal injury. It’s possible that this was Fakhrizadeh, dragged out to ensure his death with bullets to the head.
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