Military jets were heard, and in some cases seen, flying in the skies over Beirut, Lebanon, in the seconds before an explosion that leveled parts of the city last week.
Araz Bedros, a resident of the Metn district overlooking Beirut, told Asia Times that she and her husband came to their 11th-floor balcony on August 4, after hearing a loud boom.
“We ran to the balcony and we saw two aircraft, black planes flying. I screamed to my husband it must be Israel. And then the big explosion happened.”
In security camera footage, two men are seen leaving their shops near the blast zone to look up at the sky. One man grins, pointing his finger up, twirling it around, and then diving it down as if to mimic a missile hitting the city.
Seconds later the explosion is seen and felt and glass from the entire street of shops is shattered.
“I definitely heard the sound of a plane. First came the sonic boom, then you heard the explosion,” said a shop-owner Nazareth Vandakardjian, 75.
In a video, which has been viewed over a million times, a worker at the port itself films the immediate aftermath of the first explosion.
“We’re in the port of Beirut, and we’re hit,” says the man.
“One minute ago, there was an airplane that did two strikes…that, or one plane made a strike, and then another came and made another strike,” he continues.
“We’ve really been hit,” he says. “I don’t know what’s happening.” He quivers before the video cuts off.