In moment-by-moment images, the projectile is seen fliding towards the apartment block in Ghobeiri, Beirut this morning, erupting into an infernal fireball as it makes contact with the building
Lebanon: Israeli rocket strike destroys Beirut tower block
Incredible footage has caught the moment an Israeli rocket slammed into a block of flats in the Lebanese capital today.
A stunning high-definition video shows the projectile careening towards the apartment block in Beirut this morning before slamming into the base of the highrise. The bomb landed in the Ghobeiri neighbourhood, which has been the target of countless Israeli attacks over recent weeks. The southern suburbs of Beirut are known to be hotbeds of support for Hezbollah.
In a fraction of a second, an infernal fireball swells out of the blast zone, creating a thick plume of black smoke that billows hundreds of feet into the clear blue sky as windows shatter and debris is flung to the ground below.
After the building was ruptured, it caved in on itself and collapsed floor by floor. In another clip being shared online, witnesses could be seen holding their heads in their hands and screaming as they watched the building being razed to the ground.
It comes after another Israeli airstrike killed at least 12 Lebanese rescue workers inside a civil defence centre in the eastern city of Baalbek, according to health and rescue officials. That came hours after state media in Syria said Israeli strikes in and around the capital killed at least 15 people.
Lebanese emergency workers were digging through the rubble Thursday evening to search for more of their colleagues still trapped under the destroyed rescue centre, the group said in a statement. At least three civil defence members were wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Lebanon’s civil defence forces have no affiliation with the militant group Hezbollah, and they provide crucial rescue and medical services in one of the world’s most war-torn nations.
The Health Ministry condemned what it called a “barbaric attack on a Lebanese state-run health centre” adding that “it is the second Israeli attack on a health emergency facility in less than two hours.”
In southern Lebanon, an Israeli strike on Arabsalim village targeted the Health Authority Association, a civil defence and rescue group linked to Hezbollah, killing six people, including four paramedics, the Health Ministry said.
Earlier, Israel carried out at least two airstrikes on the western Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus and one of the suburbs of Syria’s capital, Qudsaya, killing at least 15 and wounding another 16, Syria’s state news agency said. An Associated Press journalist at the scene in Mazzeh said a five-story building was damaged by a missile that hit the basement.
The Israeli military said it hit infrastructure sites and command centres of the Islamic Jihad militant group.
