JERUSALEM (AP) – In the blink of an eye, an Associated Press photographer’s camera captured the moment a battleship-gray Israeli bomb fell on a Beirut building before exploding to bring down the towers.
The airstrikes came 40 minutes after Israel warned people to evacuate two buildings in the area that they say are located near warehouses and Hezbollah assets. The site is not far from where the spokesman for the militant group had just told reporters.
It’s a rare glimpse into the use of one of the most powerful bombs in Israel’s arsenal.
What kind of weapon is that?
An examination by an independent weapons researcher showed the weapon was a guided bomb, also known as a smart bomb, launched from an Israeli jet.
Sections of the fins and nose of the tail indicated it was a 2,000-pound warhead equipped with an Israeli-made guidance kit known as SPICE, according to Richard Weir, senior conflict, crisis and weapons researcher at Human Rights Watch.
SPICE – Smart, Precise-Impact and Cost-Effective – guidance system created by the Israeli government Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. They are attached to standard unguided bombs to direct the weapon to the target.
Minutes before the strike brought down the building, there were two small attacks in, in what the Israeli military often refers to as a “knock on the roof” warning strike, according to an AP reporter at the scene. The practice has been observed in Israel. military campaign in Gaza, where more than 40,000 have been killed, according to local officials who do not distinguish between civilians and fighters, in one of the most destructive conflicts in recent history.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the type of weapon used.
Why is Israel using this type of bomb?
Rafael advertises SPICE kits as being able to operate day or night, through bad weather, and in GPS jammed areas. It said the weapon offers “high lethality and low collateral damage” and “precise hit accuracy.”
It also keeps attacking planes off course. The 2,000-pound version can be launched up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the target. Rafael also made a smaller version.
After being released by an attacking Israeli fighter jet such as an American-made F-15 or F-16, the bomb glides towards its target, setting its course using movable fins.
Joseph Dempsey, a defense and military analyst at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, agreed the photo showed the weapon to be a 2,000-pound SPICE bomb.
He said, the guidance system is considered to rely on GPS and what is known as the electro-optical guidance system, which uses a camera or sensor to zero in on the bomb target.
The destructive nature of these weapons depends on many factors, including the size of the warhead and the method of fusion.
“It was clearly a delayed action fuse. It was buried low in the ground (and) detonated, which had the effect of limiting the fragmentation and blast damage of this particular attack,” Weir said.
That explains why his damage was limited to almost all the buildings he targeted. People were standing a few hundred meters away from the blast and did not see much fragmentation.
Where was this bomb made?
The answer is not straightforward.
“The instruction kit for SPICE 2000 is produced by Rafael in Israel, although the degree of dependence on foreign sub-components is unclear,” Dempsey said.
In 2019, Rafael and the US defense contractor Lockheed Martin signed a cooperation agreement to build and sell SPICE guidance kits in the US.
In late October 2023, a few weeks after the October 7 Hamas attack, the US State Department issued a letter approving the additional export of SPICE bombs to Israel.
The letter, first reported by The New York Times, tells Congress that Rafael USA, the American subsidiary of an Israeli defense company, is seeking a shipment of $320 million. The request is a $403 million license amendment earlier in 2020.
The warhead explodes as a basic bomb, in this case a 2,000-pound MK-84-style explosive, where the nose and tail sections have been swapped for guidance systems.
The US earlier this year paused shipments of the powerful bomb to Israel over concerns about civilian casualties, although Israel is believed to still have a stockpile.
It is difficult to know exactly where the bomb parts were manufactured. Israel relies on the US for supplies of MK-84 bombs, but other countries also produce similar weapons.
Determining that with certainty requires returning the remains with a marker, Weir said.
_
Associated Press reporter Sarah El Deeb contributed from Beirut.
