Israel likely used US-made bombs in Nasrallah assassination: report | Attacks between Israel and Lebanon News

The Washington Post reports that the Israeli army may have dropped heavy US bombs in an attack that destroyed buildings in Beirut.

As the Washington Post reports, Israel likely used US-made 900-kg (2,000-pound) bombs in the attack that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and leveled residential buildings in Beirut's southern suburbs earlier this week.

Citing three experts who analyzed videos of Friday's attacks released by the Israeli Air Force, the Post said Sunday that at least some of the bombs were U.S.-made “BLU-109s and JDAM guidance kits.”

BLU-109s are heavy bunker bombs and JDAM kits are guidance systems that attach to munitions to help attack a specific target.

A 2,000-pound bomb has a destruction radius of 35 meters (115 feet), according to the Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA), which conducts defense policy research and analysis.

Nasrallah, Hezbollah's longtime chief, was killed Friday in an attack on the group's underground headquarters. Israel dropped bombs that local media said “blow up bunkers” and leveled about six buildings while trying to kill Nasrallah.

The attack also devastated the entire neighborhood and reduced several residential buildings to rubble.

The Washington Post quoted NR Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services – a group that conducts analysis on weapons and ammunition – as saying that “the first available videos of the attack show that numerous large aerial bombs were used.” He added that they were designed to penetrate through a “heavily protected space.”

U.S. officials have repeatedly said they received no prior notice of Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Friday. But US President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris welcomed Nasrallah's killing, calling it a “measure of justice.”

The Biden administration is facing increasing criticism from human rights activists over its unconditional arming of Israel, which has killed more than 41,500 people in Gaza and hundreds in Lebanon.

Washington halted a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel earlier this year over concerns about their use in densely populated areas in the Gaza Strip. The Biden administration later authorized the release of 500-pound (227 kg) bombs that were part of the same transfer.

Israel's Defense Ministry said Thursday it had secured an $8.7 billion U.S. military aid package, days after it launched a massive attack that killed hundreds of people in southern Lebanon and Beirut and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians became.

Separately, the Pentagon said Sunday it had “increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces in the Middle East.”

“The United States retains the ability to deploy forces at short notice,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The Department of Defense continues to maintain a significant level of capability in the region and is dynamically adjusting our force posture as the security situation evolves,” it said.

Later in the day, Biden said he would speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and stressed the need to avoid an all-out war in the Middle East.

“It has to be this way,” Biden told reporters as he boarded Air Force One for Washington. “We really need to avoid it.”

The president's statements come as Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon increased on Sunday. The Biden administration continues to support Israel and its attacks across the region, while Washington continues to call for de-escalation.