A United States (US) senator Mark Kelly says the bomb that Israel used to kill Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last week was an American-made guided weapon.
During an interview with NBC News, Mark Kelly, chair of the US Senate Armed Services Airland Subcommittee, said Israel used a 900kg (2,000 pound) Mark-84 series bomb.
His statement marks the first US indication of what weapon had been used in the attack.
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“We see more use of guided munitions, JDAMs, and we continue to provide those weapons,” Kelly said, using an abbreviation for Joint Direct Attack Munitions.
“That 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that’s a Mark 84 series bomb, to take out Nasrallah,” he said.
Using fins and a GPS guidance system, JDAMs convert a standard unguided bomb into a guided weapon.
The Israeli military has declined to comment on what weapons were used in the attack. The US Pentagon was not immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, seven (7) countries including global powers have Condemned relentless Israel attack on Lebanon calling for immediate ceasefire.
Russian Federation Minister of Foreign Affairs at a speech shortly after United Nations general assembly conference Condemned Israel assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as attack on Lebanon.
Other counties like China, Norway, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey and Syria described Tel Aviv actions as dangerous that may led to regional war.
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But, Hezbollah said it targeted two locations in northern Israel, including the town of Safad, an area it has fired at several times over the past week.
The group said in a statement that its fighters launched a “rocket salvo” at Safad and a smaller location “in defence of Lebanon and its people and in response” to Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians.
Also, Israel should not be allowed to attack countries in the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance” one after the other, Masoud Pezeshkian has said.
President Pezeshkian, in comments carried by Iranian state media, said Lebanon should be supported, as it endures an intense Israeli onslaught from the air.
His comments also come a short while after Israeli warplanes bombed Yemen’s Hodeidah and Ras Isa.
“Lebanese fighters should not be left alone in this battle so that the Zionist regime [Israel] does not attack axis of resistance countries one after the other,” Iran’s president said.
A deputy commander from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Abbas Nilforoushan, was also killed in the attack that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
“We cannot accept such actions and they will not be left unanswered. A decisive reaction is necessary,” Pezeshkian said.
In the same vein, the spokesperson for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the entire region has entered a phase of instability, adding that the only way to fix that was through a resolution to the Palestinian issue.
Nabil Abu Rudeinah said the ongoing attacks in Gaza and attacks in the occupied West Bank “will not bring security or stability but will instead lead to more violence and chaos across the region and beyond”, according to Wafa.
“As long as Jerusalem remains occupied, with its sacred sites, history, and heritage under threat, the wars witnessed today will persist as they have for the past century,” he added.
Abu Rudeinah also held successive US administrations accountable for the ongoing turmoil due to their support for Israel, saying, “Such actions have emboldened further crimes against the Palestinian people and the people of Syria and Lebanon as well, along with persistent threats to other areas.”
In another development, the World Food Programme (WFP) has launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the growing conflict in Lebanon.
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“A further acceleration of the conflict this weekend underscored the need for an immediate humanitarian response,” WFP said in a statement, announcing that it was distributing ready-to-eat food rations, bread, hot meals and food parcels to shelters across the country.
The bombing in Lebanon is “compounding the fragility of a population burdened by accumulated crises”, it said, adding that “as the crisis deepens, we are preparing to assist up to one million people through a mix of cash and food support”.
“Lebanon is at a breaking point and cannot endure another war,” WFP regional director Corinne Fleischer said.
Source: Aljazeera and news agencies.