The Tech Behind Saleh Al Arouri’s Assassination
On the 2nd of January 2024 deputy leader of Hamas Saleh Al Arouri was assassinated with attack drones in Lebanon in the southern suburb of Dahiyeh. Al Arouri aided in establishing Hamas’s military wing and contributed to the presence of Hamas in the West bank as well.
The clock hit 5:48 PM Beirut time and likewise did the Israeli tech that precisely targeted Al Arouri and four others that were with him in his apartment. The question is what tech was used to target Al Arouri? The tech gadget that was used to target Al Arouri is a drone. Retired Lebanese General, Khalil Helou, confirmed this to Inside Telecom. General Helou stated that “the indication of the tech being a drone is due to the fact that there was no sign of light or sound of the explosion that took place.”
Israel is known for its advanced tech because it has made two of the most important attack drones which are the Hermes drone and the Heron drone. According to General Helou both drones are capable of being armed to hit specific targets. Although he mentioned that these drones do have facial recognition capabilities due to artificial intelligence, but the drones didn’t fly over the Lebanese land trying to recognize al Arouri’s face. This is where he stated that human intelligence played a vital role in locating Al Arouri.
Each drone is capable of outdoing the other in many different ways. Both drones are able to fly for a prolonged period. For example, it is known that the Heron drone can fly for 52 hours’ at a medium altitude at up to 10.5 km. As for the Hermes drone, it is specifically designed for tactical missions. According to General Helou, both drones are able to fly easily at both low and high altitudes, undetected by the radar beam. If we were to question the type of drone that was used it could be either both or just one of them.
In a technological perspective, the mission was done smoothly thanks to AI. The question is, if Israel is that advanced in knowing who it wants to target and being able to target him, why isn’t it using this technology with Hamas? Why has there to be loss of innocent civilians from both ends?
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