Beirut photographer puts himself in the firing line to capture Israeli strikes

Fadel Itani is no stranger to Israeli strikes in his hometown.

The 39-year-old photographer from Beirut captured a stunning sequence of images in the early hours of Wednesday, showing an Israeli missile demolishing a tower block in one fell swoop.

Itani, a freelance photographer with more than 16 years experience, told NBC News that he learned about the incoming strike from an alert sent by the Israel Defense Forces.

It warned residents to evacuate the Bashoura neighborhood in Lebanon’s capital where it said the Iran-backed militant group, Hezbollah, was operating.

“For the last two weeks, bombs have been dropping on Beirut,” he said, speaking from his home Wednesday.

While others fled the incoming strike, Itani headed in the opposite direction.

Hopping onto his motorbike, he made the short journey from his family home and positioned himself behind a parking lot some 400 yards away from the site the Israeli military said it was targeting.

Carrying only his camera and a wide-angle lens, he watched and waited wearing a protective vest and helmet.

After waiting for around an hour, at approximately 6 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET), he said, he heard the missile and quickly fired off a series of images at 1/3000th of a second, capturing it moments before it smashed into the building and the explosive aftermath.

Within seconds, the building was reduced to rubble.