Operation Aridstone

Operation Aridstone is a highly covert, clandestine assassination program within the Zamastanian Intelligence Service. It is so secretive that until the Trimbelle Leaks on October 1st, 2024, nobody was aware of the existence of the program outside the very people running it. The assassination program targets individuals who represent an immediate threat to the Zamastanian government; usually individuals who need to be silenced to prevent exposure of highly clandestine information.

Aridstone is unique in a regard that it only operates a small network of highly trained operatives with limited oversight. While other programs usually detail and plan the assassinations themselves, Aridstone has an opposite approach, only providing the target to the operative, who then plan and organize assassinations on their own. Ostensibly, while this may be due to the level of intense training and intelligence of Aridstone operatives, in reality, it serves to prevent any unnecessary risks of exposure on the field. By placing the burden of planning and exercising operations solely to their operatives, it allows the program to run with a minimum amount of personnel, without the need of extensive field network of operatives (such as surveillance, recon and assault teams), instead combining them together into selected number of highly skilled individuals who are then trained to be elite assassins.

The existence of Aridstone was unknown to the public until October 1st, 2024, when classified documents mentioning the broad overview of Aridstone were published online in the Trimbelle Leaks. Most aspects of Aridstone remain classified and secret. The revelation of Aridstone prompted intense backlash from the international community and close Zamastanian allies.