An Israeli strike on Ghobeiri, Nov. 15, 2024. (Credit: Mohammad Yassin/L'Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — The Israeli military dropped a 2,000-pound bomb equipped with a U.S.-made guidance kit on an 11-story building in Tayyouneh on Friday, according to the Washington Post.
Early Friday, an Israeli airstrike targeted a building in the Tayyouneh area, opposite Horsh Beirut Park.
The attack, witnessed by a Washington Post reporter and filmed by many on-site, caused the collapse of the targeted building in the Tayyouneh neighborhood, sending a fireball into the sky and a plume of smoke over Beirut’s largest park.
In recent days, Israel has intensified its attacks on the southern suburbs of Beirut and begun targeting suburban neighborhoods during the day.
Three weapons researchers cited by the Washington Post said Israel used a 2,000-pound bomb with a U.S.-made guidance kit in the Tayyouneh attack.
“The weapon used in this strike has components consistent with a 2,000-pound class bomb equipped with a U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit,” Richard Weir, a crisis, conflict, and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, said after reviewing images captured by an Associated Press photographer.
On Oct. 22, a strike in the same neighborhood leveled a building near the one targeted on Friday. Missiles expert Shaan Shaikh from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told L'Orient Today that the Israeli Army had used a Spice 2000 missile in that attack.
According to the Israeli defense technology company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Spice (Smart, Precise-Impact and Cost-Effective), 2000 missiles have a stand-off range of 60 kilometers, a Circular Error Probability (CEP) of 3 meters, and a blast fragmentation or penetration warhead.
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in a conflict since Oct. 8, 2023, one day after the start of the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. The conflict escalated in September when Israel launched a massive air operation followed by a ground operation.
On Friday, the U.S. sent a cease-fire proposal to Lebanon's Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. Lebanese officials are currently reviewing it.