Nasrallah said killed by blunt force from IDF bunker busters
Nasrallah's body bore no direct wounds, according to Lebanese medical and security sources.
JNS
Sep 29, 2024
The Israeli Air Force dropped at least a dozen 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs in the strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, The New York Times reported on Sunday, citing munitions experts and an analysis of videos published by the Israel Defense Forces.
The U.S.-manufactured precision munitions can penetrate underground before detonating, reducing the risk of civilian casualties and increasing the likelihood of successfully destroying fortified infrastructure.
According to analysts cited by the Times, the IAF fighter jets that took part in Friday’s attack in Beirut were fitted with at least a dozen bunker-busting bombs. Video footage provided by the IDF shows two planes taking off, with one plane carrying six of these munitions, they said.
The video then shows one of the planes returning to base without any bombs. The experts said the damage caused by the attack was consistent with the 2,000-pound bombs as seen in the footage.
Two unnamed Israeli defense officials told the NYT that more than 80 bombs were dropped over the span of several minutes during the strike, but did not confirm the type of munitions used. The IDF did not answer a query on the bombs seen in the video or used to assassinate the Hezbollah chief.
Late last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. had given Jerusalem some 15,000 bombs, including bunker busters, and 57,000 artillery shells since Hamas’s Oct. 7 cross-border massacre in Israel.
The site of the Israeli airstrike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut’s southern suburbs, Sept. 29, 2024.
Lebanese medical and security sources told Reuters on Sunday that Nasrallah’s body had been recovered from the site of the airstrike in the terrorist organization’s southern Beirut stronghold of Dahiyeh.
The sources said the body bore no direct wounds and that it appeared the cause of death was blunt trauma from the force of the blast.
The IDF revealed on Sunday that in addition to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps deputy commander Brig. Gen. Abbas Nilforoushan and Ali Karaki, Hezbollah’s highest-ranking military commander, at least 20 more terrorists “of various ranks” were eliminated in the airstrike.
Among those said to have been killed were Ibrahim Hussein Jazini, the head of Nasrallah’s personal security; Samir Tawfiq Dib, a long-time confidant of Nasrallah and his adviser on terrorist activities; Abed al-Amir Muhammad Sablini, head of Hezbollah’s force-build up; and Ali Naaf Ayoub, responsible for the terror group’s firepower, the IDF said.
“The terrorists gathered in the heart of Beirut at Hezbollah’s central headquarters under civilian buildings and near U.N. schools,” it noted.
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