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An Israeli airstrike obliterated a building in Beirut in a fiery explosion Friday — as it was revealed the Jewish state reportedly destroyed an active top secret nuclear weapons research facility during last month’s retaliatory strikes on Iran.
The latest strike decimated a high-rise building near one of Beirut’s busiest traffic junctions — shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel kept up its heavy bombardment of Hezbollah-controlled areas across the city.
The attack near Tayouneh, which was one of several Israeli airstrikes carried out Friday morning, immediately turned the building into a cloud of fiery rubble, dramatic photos and video show.
Ahead of the strikes, the Israeli military had issued a warning on social media identifying buildings in the southern suburbs that residents should evacuate from, arguing they were near Hezbollah facilities.
Separately, rescue teams were searching through rubble Friday for missing people near the city of Baalbek, in Lebanon’s east, after an Israeli strike there hit a civil defense center the night before, killing at least 13.
Those killed in the strike were employees and volunteers of the emergency services agency, the Lebanese Civil Defense said.
It comes as Israel continues to step up its strikes inside Lebanon amid its escalating war against the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, the latest attacks unfolded as it emerged an Iranian active top secret nuclear weapons research facility was among the targets destroyed during Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Iran last month, Axios reported, citing multiple US and Israeli officials.
The attack on the facility in Parchin, which was previously reported to be inactive, obliterated “sophisticated equipment used to design the plastic explosives that surround uranium in a nuclear device and are needed to detonate it,” according to the outlet.
With Post wires
English (US)