Moment Israeli bomb obliterates Beirut apartment building housing ‘Hezbollah facilities’

The terrifying moment a 2000lb Israeli bomb levelled an apartment building in Beirut has been caught on camera.

The bomb can be seen flying into the front of the building as locals watch on, reducing it to rubble within seconds.

The multi-storey apartment in the city’s Ghobeiry neighbourhood is just one of many targets hit by the Israeli Defence Force as it seeks to eliminate Hezbollah operatives.

The explosion obliterated the building, sending plumes of smoke and debris shooting into the air. It is unknown whether there were any casualties.

The IDF said the now-destroyed apartment building had “housed Hezbollah facilities”.

It was close to where the terrorist group had just briefed the media about a weekend drone attack that damaged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s holiday house.

The neighbourhood is also the same area, the IDF confirmed on Wednesday, that it had three weeks ago killed top Hezbollah figure Hashem Safieddine in an airstrike that also killed 25 other Hezbollah leaders.

Safieddine had been expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said: “We have reached Nasrallah, his successor and most of Hezbollah’s top brass. We will know how to reach anyone who threatens the security of the citizens of the State of Israel”

The apartment building bombing came less than a day after another deadly air strike targeted a block in the same area, which is close to the country’s largest public hospital.

At least 18 people were killed, including four children, and 60 were wounded in an Israeli strike on Monday near Beirut’s main government hospital, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Israeli jets hit a Hezbollah target close to the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut but did not target the hospital and it was not affected by the strike, the Israeli military said on Tuesday.

However, the director of the hospital said that due to the Israeli attack, nearby debris, probably from heavy ammunition, had caused damage to the medical facility.

While there were no casualties among the staff, efforts to rescue people in front of the hospital were ongoing, the director, Jihad Saadeh, added.

Hezbollah said on Tuesday that it will not negotiate while fighting continues.

— with Reuters