Revealed: US-made munition used in Israeli strike on Beirut

A US-made munition was used in a strike on central Beirut on Thursday night that killed 22 people and wounded 117, according to an analysis of shrapnel found by the Guardian at the scene of the attack.

- William Christou

The strike hit an apartment complex in the densely populated neighbourhood of Basta, levelling the building and destroying cars and interiors of nearby residences.

It was the deadliest strike on Lebanon's capital city since fighting between Hezbollah and Israel started a year ago.

A first responder on the scene said rescue crews had worked overnight to find survivors and recover the dead from under rubble. They said the building had more people living there than usual as residents had recently welcomed people displaced by Israeli bombing raids in south Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut increasing the number of wounded and killed in the airstrike.

The building was one of two hit in central Beirut on Thursday night, targeting Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah's liaison and coordination unit and responsible for working with Lebanese security agencies. According to Reuters, Safa survived the assassination attempt.

The Guardian found remnants of a US-manufactured joint direct attack munition (JDAM) in the rubble of the collapsed apartment building yesterday afternoon. JDAMS are guidance kits built by the US aerospace company Boeing that attach to "dumb bombs" ranging up to 2,000lbs, converting them into GPS-guided bombs.

The weapons remnant was verified by the crisis, conflict and arms division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a former US military bomb technician.