"Israel Uses US-Made Bombs in Airstrikes on Lebanon's Capital"

UK Guardian Report

Israel, which has been continuously attacking the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, is believed to have used weapons provided by the United States in airstrikes on downtown Beirut, the capital of Lebanon.

Smoke is rising like clouds from an Israeli airstrike in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon.
[Photo by Reuters]

On the 11th (local time), the British daily The Guardian reported that after investigating and analyzing the airstrike site in central Beirut on the 10th, where over 130 casualties occurred, parts of a U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a type of precision-guided bomb, were found among the rubble of an apartment building destroyed by the attack. JDAM is a guidance kit manufactured by Boeing that, when attached to unguided old bombs, enables precision bombing through GPS (Global Positioning System) and other means. It can be mounted on large bombs weighing up to 2,000 pounds (about 900 kg).

The Guardian stated that a weapons expert from the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a former U.S. military bomb technician confirmed that the fragments found in the downtown Beirut airstrike debris were from a JDAM. Richard Weir, a senior researcher in HRW’s Crisis and Conflict Weapons division, said after seeing photos of the fragments, "The bolt shape and its position, as well as the shape of the fragments, match the tail fins of the U.S.-made JDAM guidance kit for the Mk 80 series aerial bombs."

The Guardian reported that this is the first confirmation since 2006 that U.S.-made bombs were used in an attack on central Beirut. Israel’s airstrike on Beirut’s downtown on the 10th, using JDAMs, struck an apartment building in the densely populated Basta area. The Lebanese Ministry of Health reported that 22 people were killed and 117 injured in this airstrike.

Since declaring the start of the "Arrow of the North" operation on the 23rd of last month, which involved carpet bombing across various parts of Lebanon, the Israeli military had mainly targeted the Dahieh area on the southern outskirts of Beirut, known as a major Hezbollah stronghold. However, on this day, they unusually attacked the city center.

Weapons supplied by the United States to Israel have played a key role in the wars Israel is waging against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Among these, JDAM is one of the weapons Israel has requested most frequently from the U.S. It was also revealed that JDAMs were used in an airstrike in southern Lebanon last March that killed seven medical workers.

In the United States, there is growing pressure to halt military support, including weapons, to Israel, accusing it of violating international law by using U.S.-made weapons against civilians. Last month, 12 human rights organizations sent a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden urging him to stop arms transfers to Israel.