As a consequnce of heavy Israeli bombardment, search and rescue missions become an impossible task in Beirut, along with the spotting and recovery of dead bodies.
Israel's aerial bombing in Lebanon had resulted in civilians "feeling earthquakes" and entire buildings coming crashing down. According to reports, the air raids have been so strong that a crater was formed in a suburb of Beirut and buildings in the surrounding collapsed into it. As a consequence, search and rescue missions become an impossible task, along with the spotting and recovery of dead bodies. It has become a tedious task to get the bodies of victims out, reports said.
But how much firepower has been pounded over Beirut by Israeli air units so far? Pursuing this question had reportedly helped experts zero in on the weapons being used against Hezbollah targets by Tel Aviv.
As of September 28, 2024, Israel has used 85 tonnes of explosives in Lebanon as part of the recent offensive, Al Jazeera quoted experts as saying. Each of these bombs weighed around a tonne, they figured. Local residents then said that it felt like an earthquake was happening near them every time a bomb was dropped. Piecing all this information with the devastating impact on urban Beirut, experts reportedly believe that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) is using a combination of two bombs in Lebanon.
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US-made GBU-31 JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) and homemade Spice 2000 are the bombs that have reduced Beirut in shambles, Al Jazeera said. The Joint Direct Attack Munition is a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate warheads. JDAM could operate under any weather conditions AND "enables employment of accurate air-to-surface weapons against high priority fixed and relocatable targets from fighter and bomber aircraft."
Israel has thousands of GBU-31 JDAM in its arsenal and had earlier dropped them in the war against Hamas in Gaza as well.
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Rafaels' air-to-surface weapon system Spice 2000 a stand-off strike weapon capable of extremely accurate, simultaneous, high-volume attacks. According to the makers, they are "sophisticated navigation, guidance and homing technologies – the systems are agnostic to GPS-denied environments. They enable operation from significant stand-off ranges, delivering first-strike capability with minimum collateral damage."
