An Associated Press photographer was in just the right position when he took cover behind a large tree in Beirut, focusing his camera on an apartment building that the Israeli military had picked out for an attack. Just seconds later, a missile fell from the sky and gave the photojournalist a picture of the unfolding destruction in real time.
Bilal Hussein recounted the moment of time: “I still remember the sound of the missile whistling toward the building before starting to shoot.” His powerful images capture the missile in mid-flight- the raw speed and destructive force of modern warfare.
The strike came just a few minutes after an announcement by an Israeli army spokesperson in Arabic on social media warned people in the southern suburbs of Beirut to “evacuate the area because a strike on two buildings linked to Hezbollah would be carried out shortly.” No reason was given for the targeting, but the spokesperson said the structures were “linked to interests and facilities of the organization.”
Immediately after the warning, many residents fled the busy neighborhood, although several journalists remained behind to monitor the situation. At the time the bomb hit the target, the building had already been cleared of people, and there were no reported casualties.
Two smaller projectiles preceded the major attack into the roof, an action the Israeli military characterizes as warning strikes, a common practice in its Gaza Strip operations. Hussein’s camera captured that moment as the primary missile approached its target.
Images included one of the missiles tracking across the sky and another capturing the moment before it hit a balcony on a lower floor. Subsequent shots would show a vast cloud of smoke and debris as the building continued to collapse-the devastation of the strike clear in full.
