The bomb in question is reportedly a GBU-39B smart glide bomb manufactured by the American company Boeing.
The United States has urgently requested the Lebanese government to return a GBU-39 bomb that failed to detonate during Israel’s assassination of a Hezbollah commander in Beirut last week, according to reports.
The Jerusalem Post, citing Lebanese reports, said US officials “fear that the bomb could fall into Russian or Chinese hands.” The paper noted that there has been no official response yet from the Lebanese government.
Report: After Bomb Dropped on Beirut Fails to Explode, US Wants It Back from Lebanon
Boeing-made GBU-39B bomb failed to detonate during Israeli attack#Lebanon #Israel #GBU #Beiruthttps://t.co/ZnRDX90mE7— Antiwar.com (@Antiwarcom) November 30, 2025
Al-Jazeera Arabic reported on Monday that the Israeli newspaper Maariv, citing unnamed sources, reported that the bomb in question is a GBU-39B smart glide bomb manufactured by the American company Boeing. The Israeli Air Force used it in the airstrike that targeted Haytham Ali Tabatabai, Hezbollah’s senior commander, in the party’s stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Washington’s Concerns
The bomb did not detonate and remained relatively intact at the attack site. This has raised concerns in Washington that other parties, particularly Russia and China, could access it and study its technology, the Al-Jazeera Arabic report stated.
The bomb reportedly contained an exceptionally powerful warhead relative to its weight, along with guidance systems and technology not currently available to Moscow or Beijing, according to unnamed sources cited by the newspaper. This makes its recovery a priority for the United States, Al-Jazeera Arabic said.
Since last October, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks on Lebanon in violation of the ceasefire agreement signed in November 2014. There have also been media leaks about plans for a new attack on the country, the Al-Jazeera Arabic report stated.
The ceasefire agreement ended an Israeli offensive against Lebanon that began in October 2023 and escalated into a full-blown war in September 2024, resulting in the deaths of more than 4,000 people and injuries to approximately 17,000 others.
Precision-Guided Bomb
The GBU-39 is an American-made, air-to-ground, precision-guided bomb developed in the late 1990s by Boeing, which entered active service in the early 2000s, the report stated.
It is called the “safe” bomb because it destroys only the target from within, without causing collateral damage, the report added. The small, highly effective bomb is designed to be part of a modern military system that allows aircraft to carry a greater number of smart bombs.
The GBU039 is a bunker-buster designed to penetrate and destroy fortifications and military barracks from within, such as warehouses, concrete shelters, or certain targets within populated areas or high-value targets, the report stated.
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It resembles a small missile in appearance, weighing 250 pounds (approximately 113 kilograms) and measuring about 1.8 meters in length, and is characterized by its high accuracy in hitting the target and minimizing collateral damage. Designed to penetrate fortifications, its manufacturers say it is also designed to minimize damage in populated areas.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Boeing has produced about 20,000 of these kits, “which the US has sold only to countries such as Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, and Saudi Arabia, and in a special ground-launched version, also to Ukraine.”
The report said that the Israeli Air Force refers to the bomb as “Sharp Hail.”
(PC, AJA)
They already sent them to the Neo-Nazis in Ukraine. Send it to Russia.