New Delhi: Amid ongoing clashes between Israel and Hezbollah, a video of an Israeli missile striking a residential building in Beirut, Lebanon, has gone viral on social media platforms.
According to The New York Post, the multi-story building was situated in the Tayouneh neighborhood, adjacent to Horsh Beirut, a city park. The viral footage captured the missile’s impact, which was so devastating that the entire structure came crashing down within seconds.
Approximately 40 minutes before the missile strike, an Israeli military spokesperson had issued a warning on social media in Arabic, advising residents near two buildings in southern Beirut to evacuate the area.
The warning prompted many people to flee the busy, densely populated neighborhood, even as others, including a few journalists, kept watch. By the time of the attack the building was evacuated and there were no reports of casualties Tuesday.
Minutes before the bomb brought down the building, two smaller projectiles were fired at the roof in what Israel’s military often refers to as warning strikes, according to AP journalists at the scene. It is a practice Israel has followed in staging strikes in Gaza during past wars.
When the primary bomb hurtled toward the building Tuesday it was a blur, but Hussein’s camera provided witness. One picture showed the bomb arching through the air. Another captured it a fragment of a second before it smashed through a lower-floor balcony. In the images that followed, a cloud of smoke and debris billowed outward as the building collapsed.
Hussein, who has spent years covering conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon since joining the AP in 2004, says he has become accustomed to the sounds of explosions. The night before the building was destroyed, he filmed more than a dozen Israeli strikes nearby.
“I have the ability to control my reactions in critical moments and maintain stability as much as possible,” he said.
Video: IDF Rocket Strike Reduces Beirut Residential Building to Rubble In Seconds world-news World News | Latest International News | Global World News | World Breaking Headlines Today
