How Israel Air Force penetrated Hezbollah's underground HQ in Beirut?
以色列空军是如何穿透真主党的地下总部的？
Dahiyeh, located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, was known as the place where Hezbollah's underground headquarters was based. According to Tel Aviv, the Israel Air Force carried out a precise airstrike on Friday to kill Nasrallah, among other targets.
But how can air raids cause damage to such an extent to underground bunkers? Is it easy for modern weapons to drop from the air to penetrate targets located beneath the ground?
但空袭如何能对地下掩体造成如此严重程度的破坏？从空中投掷的现代武器很容易穿透位于地下的目标吗？
Bunker-buster bombs
钻地弹
The result depends on what kind of bombs/warheads are deployed by the fighter planes. While staying inside underground bunkers can protect targets from several modern air-to-surface weapons, others can still hit them. A military-strong state like Israel obviously has access to such weapons.
Israel instructed its pilots to let loose as many as 85 so-called “bunker-buster” bombs in Beirut during the recent offensive against Hezbollah, Al Jazeera said. The name comes from these bombs' ability to reduce underground facilities and reinforced concrete buildings, into rubble.
Weighing between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds each, “bunker-buster” missiles dig deep into the ground instead of exploding immediately after making contact with the ground. These warheads are half the size of a regular bomb of similar weight. This is because their primary purpose is to burrow rather than obliterate the whole area.
They are manufactured with thicker steel than many other bombs. When fired, they maintain their shape and do not get dismantled if delivered on the roof of the target facility. Instead, it descends downward at high speed.
Living up to the name “ground penetration munition”, they detonate only after reaching targets many feet under the ground. It doesn’t require a powerful explosion to destroy its lower levels once it breaks through the underground structure, the Jerusalem Post said in a report.
“Bunker-buster” bombs penetrate 30 metres after hitting the ground. Even if the surface is blast-proof, the targets could still be neutralised as they are equipped to shatter six metres of concrete and create shockwaves that can collapse entire structures.
US-made GBU-39 and GBU-28 are reportedly among the bombs that fall under this category that are owned by Israel.
据报道，美国制造的GBU-39和GBU-28属于以色列拥有的这一类炸弹。
The Geneva Convention outlaws the use of these bombs in densely populated areas due to the risk of mass and indiscriminate casualties, Al Jazeera added.
半岛电视台补充说，《日内瓦公约》禁止在人口稠密地区使用这些炸弹，因为有可能造成大规模滥杀滥伤。
However, the use of the said weapon was not confirmed by IDF. Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesperson of Israel, meanwhile declined to say what munitions were used in the strike. He told Reuters that the airstrike was based on years of tracking Nasrallah along with real-time information that made it viable. He said Nasrallah's death had been confirmed through various types of intelligence.