Ayman al-Zawahiri: How US strike could kill al-Qaeda leader – but not his family

In 2017, another al-Qaeda leader and one of Zawahiri’s deputies, Abu Khayr Al-Masri, was reportedly killed with an R9X Hellfire in Syria. Photos of his vehicle taken after the strike showed that the missile had cut a hole in the roof and shredded its occupants, but without signs of an explosion or any further destruction to the vehicle.