US-made munition used in Israeli airstrikes on Nabatieh
4 Min Read
The United States is supplying arms for the Israeli occupation to use against Lebanese civilians; in a non-isolated incident, remnants of US munitions were found at the site of an airstrike.
-
Destroyed shops and buildings at commercial street that hit Saturday night by Israeli airstrikes, in Nabatiyeh town, south Lebanon, Sunday, October 13, 2024. (AP)
The aftermath of Israeli airstrikes on the city of Nabatieh has left widespread destruction, with its open-air market, built in 1910, now lying in ruins among many of its homes, shops, and buildings.
Hussein Jaber, the head of Nabatieh's Civil Defense station, walked through the rubble of shattered concrete and twisted metal, surveying the devastation of a marketplace that once served not just the city but surrounding towns as well, The Guardian reported.
"When we were kids, everyone would come here to buy their things. This market wasn't just for Nabatieh, but for all the villages around," he told the British newspaper.
Notably, however, among the children's clothing, computer parts, and numerous other goods sold in the market-turned-rubbled, was a fragment of a US-made munition used by the Israeli occupation forces to sow destruction in the southern Lebanese city.
The Guardian found the tail fin of a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a guidance system that converts conventional bombs into precision-guided weapons. The munition, confirmed by Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and arms division, was one of many used in the Israeli aggression on Lebanon. A similar device was found in a previous airstrike that killed 22 people in Beirut.
Nabatieh, the second most populated city in southern Lebanon, is now nearly empty, with its main demographic today consisting of medical workers and the elderly who are limited in mobility and were unable to leave. The United Nations estimates that a quarter of Lebanon's territory is now under Israeli evacuation orders.
One of the most tragic strikes occurred on Wednesday when Israeli airstrikes hit the city's municipal headquarters, killing members of Nabatieh's crisis cell, including Mayor Ahmad Kahil. The team was in the process of distributing aid when the bombs struck.
In a separate attack, a building just 100 meters from the Civil Defense station was hit, killing Naji Fahs, a first responder with 22 years of service. Overall, the strikes claimed 16 lives and left 52 others wounded that day.
Medical officials have reported that over 115 healthcare workers and emergency responders have been killed by Israeli forces since October of last year, with the majority of these casualties occurring in the past month.
US-made munitions used in Beirut
Previously, The Guardian had reported that a US-made munition was used in the strike in central Beirut on Thursday in a failed attempt to assassinate Wafiq Safa, head of Hezbollah's Coordination and Liaison Unit.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the aggression led to the martyrdom of 22 people and the injury of 117 others. First responders on the scene said that rescue teams had been searching under the debris all night for survivors and martyrs, adding that since residents recently welcomed evacuated Lebanese due to Israeli aggression in other regions, the building had more occupants than usual, making it the bloodiest attack in a year.
The Guardian discovered pieces of a JDAM made in the US in the wreckage of the fallen apartment building. The US aerospace business Boeing manufactures JDAMs, which are guidance kits that connect to big "dumb bombs" weighing up to 2,000 pounds (900 kg) and turn them into GPS-guided bombs.
The weapons residue was confirmed by a veteran US military bomb technician and Human Rights Watch's crisis, conflict, and armaments section.
After seeing a photograph of the fragment, Richard Weir, a senior researcher in Human Rights Watch’s crisis, conflict, and arms division explained that the “bolt pattern, its position and the shape of the of the remnant are consistent with the tail fin of a US-made, JDAM guidance kit for Mk80 series air-dropped munitions."
Three classes of bombs, the lowest weighing 500 pounds and the heaviest 2,000 pounds, are included in the Mk80 series.
