Let me see if I get the story right (assuming it's true). It appears to have been alleged that a sovereign power hired mercenaries to kill to kill soldiers of an adversary power fighting in a third country. This is something unprecedented? I think this sort of thing has been going on ever since there were wars. I would think that none of this would surprise any realists in the Pentagon. I guess it's a good thing that neither the U.S. nor the U.K. paid resistance fighters to kill German soldiers in WWII.
I feel that this entire story is just another example of ginned up false outrage. Our news media at their best.
Cheers,
Grog