A examination of CCTV depicting the operation and its aftermath suggests that the Israeli raid in Beirut on Friday night that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah most likely involved 2,000-pound bombs made in the US.
Using at least 15 2,000-pound bombs, including the US-made BLU-109, the Israeli military said in a video released on Saturday that it carried out the attack using planes. Trevor Ball, a former senior explosive ordnance technician for the US Army, examined the clip for CNN.
According to Ball, the bombs were also equipped with the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a precision guidance kit that transforms unguided, or “dumb,” bombs into “smart” munitions that can precisely strike a target.
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These bombs are colloquially known as “bunker busters” because of their ability to penetrate deep underground before detonating. Ball recognized at least four of the bomb-equipped planes in the video as being BLU-109s equipped with JDAM kits. Ball said that although only the BLU-109s were shown in the video, other kinds of massive bombs might have been utilized in the operation.
The 535 pounds of explosives in the weapons are a lot less than the MK84s, another kind of 2,000-pound bomb that the Israeli military uses a lot. “BLU-109s sacrifice explosive mass in order to outperform an MK84 in target penetration,” stated Ball.
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Geolocated video and pictures from the strike site in the Dahiyeh area of southern Beirut reveal a sizable, deeply-carved hole encircled by debris from the demolished buildings. Four multistory apartment complexes were confirmed to have been destroyed in the strike by a CNN examination of satellite imagery and video.
The New York Times was informed by two senior Israeli defense officials that the attack on Nasrallah involved the use of eighty bombs. Ball said that while the number made sense, it was hard to determine from the crater’s existing footage alone.