The bombs that killed the Hezbollah leader can burrow 30 meters underground, and weigh several tons each. A total of 85 tons of bombs were dropped over the city quarter where the Hezbollah leader was located.
“This is extremely destructive and we will probably see it again,” says an expert Al Jazeera spoke to.
Israeli warplanes dropped 85 bombs during Friday’s offensive that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
The deep-penetrating bombs, also called “bunker breakers”, are designed to burrow deep into the ground before detonating. In some cases, they can reach as deep as 30 meters underground, and six meters under concrete, according to experts who Al Jazeera talked to.
According to media reports, the airstrikes have been so powerful that a crater has formed, and entire buildings have been razed to the ground. Residents several kilometers away reportedly felt the vibrations described as an “earthquake”.
Each of the 85 precision-guided bombs, which were dropped over the city block within seconds, can weigh up to several tons.
In total, the US-made bombs used in the attack weighed about 85 tons, the paper reports.
Each bomb has a blast radius of 33 meters.
“Extremely destructive”
“This is extremely destructive and we will probably see it again,” says an expert Al Jazeera spoke to.
In addition, the bombs have the capacity to destroy underground facilities and reinforced concrete buildings.
The Geneva Convention has banned the use of these bombs in densely populated areas due to the widespread risk of civilian casualties.
Over 700 people have been killed in recent days of Israeli attacks on Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee, AFP reports.
Knew the location
According to New York Times sources, Israeli leaders knew of Hassan Nasrallah’s whereabouts for months before the attack.
They are said to have decided to strike the Hezbollah leader in the last week because it was feared that there would be a short time before Hezbollah leaders would be transferred to another location. This is stated by three senior Israeli defense officials for the newspaper.