Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon

from Baltaji - 25.07.2006 13:45

Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon

Hi everyone,

A report of Human Rights Watch concerning clustered munition used by
Israel against lebanese civilians

Beirut, July 24, 2006) – Israel has used artillery-fired cluster
munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said
today. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster
munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and
wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human
Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the
arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.

Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable
weapons when used around civilians. They should never be used in
populated areas.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch

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Related Material

Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq
Report, December 3, 2003

Fatally Flawed: Cluster Bombs and Their Use by the United States in
Afghanistan
Report, December 3, 2002

Ticking Time Bombs: NATO's Use of Cluster Munitions in Yugoslavia,"
Report, December 16, 1999

More documents on cluster munitions at:
Thematic Page

For Human Rights Watch's ongoing coverage of the Israel-Lebanon
conflict, please visit:
Thematic Page



According to eyewitnesses and survivors of the attack interviewed by
Human Rights Watch, Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster
munitions at Blida around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described
how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on
the village. They clearly described the submunitions as smaller
projectiles that emerged from their larger shells.

The cluster attack killed 60-year-old Maryam Ibrahim inside her
home. At least two submunitions from the attack entered the basement
that the Ali family was using as a shelter, wounding 12 persons,
including seven children. Ahmed Ali, a 45-year-old taxi driver and
head of the family, lost both legs from injuries caused by the
cluster munitions. Five of his children were wounded: Mira, 16;
Fatima, 12; `Ali, 10; Aya, 3; and `Ola, 1. His wife Akram Ibrahim,
35, and his mother-in-law `Ola Musa, 80, were also wounded. Four
relatives, all German-Lebanese dual nationals sheltering with the
family, were wounded as well: Mohammed Ibrahim, 45; his wife Fatima,
40; and their children `Ali, 16, and Rula, 13.

Human Rights Watch researchers photographed artillery-delivered
cluster munitions among the arsenal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
artillery teams stationed on the Israeli-Lebanese border during a
research visit on July 23. The photographs show M483A1 Dual Purpose
Improved Conventional Munitions, which are U.S.-produced and -
supplied, artillery-delivered cluster munitions. The photographs
contain the distinctive marks of such cluster munitions, including a
diamond-shaped stamp, and a shape that is longer than ordinary
artillery, according to a retired IDF commander who asked not to be
identified.


Pallets of 155mm artillery projectiles including DPICM cluster
munitions (center and right with yellow diamonds) in the arsenal of
an IDF artillery unit on July 23 in northern Israel. Each DPICM
shell contains 88 sub-munitions, which have a dud rate of up to 14
percent. © Human Rights Watch 2006



Close-up of a M483A1 DPICM artillery-delivered cluster munition
present in the arsenal of an IDF unit in northern Israel. © Human
Rights Watch 2006


The M483A1 artillery shells deliver 88 cluster submunitions per
shell, and have an unacceptably high failure rate (dud rate) of 14
percent, leaving behind a serious unexploded ordnance problem that
will further endanger civilians. The commander said that the IDF's
operations manual warns soldiers that the use of such cluster
munitions creates dangerous minefields due to the high dud rate.


Lebanese security forces, who to date have not engaged in the
fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, also accused Israel of using
cluster munitions in its attacks on Blida and other Lebanese border
villages. These sources also indicated they have evidence that
Israel used cluster munitions earlier this year during fighting with
Hezbollah around the contested Shebaa Farms area. Human Rights Watch
is continuing to investigate these additional allegations.

Human Rights Watch believes that the use of cluster munitions in
populated areas may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate
attacks contained in international humanitarian law. The wide
dispersal pattern of their submunitions makes it very difficult to
avoid civilian casualties if civilians are in the area. Moreover,
because of their high failure rate, cluster munitions leave large
numbers of hazardous, explosive duds that injure and kill civilians
even after the attack is over. Human Rights Watch believes that
cluster munitions should never be used, even away from civilians,
unless their dud rate is less than 1 percent.

Human Rights Watch conducted detailed analyses of the U.S.
military's use of cluster bombs in the 1999 Yugoslavia war, the 2001-
2002 Afghanistan war, and the 2003 Iraq war. Human Rights Watch
research established that the use of cluster munitions in populated
areas in Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor
in the U.S.-led coalition's conduct of major military operations in
March and April 2003, killing and wounding more than 1,000 Iraqi
civilians. Roughly a quarter of the 500 civilian deaths caused by
NATO bombing in the 1999 Yugoslavia war were also due to cluster
munitions.

"Our research in Iraq and Kosovo shows that cluster munitions cannot
be used in populated areas without huge loss of civilian life," Roth
said. "Israel must stop using cluster bombs in Lebanon at once."

Human Rights Watch called upon the Israel Defense Forces to
immediately cease the use of indiscriminate weapons like cluster
munitions in Lebanon.

Background

Israel used cluster munitions in Lebanon in 1978 and in the 1980s.
At that time, the United States placed restrictions on their use and
then a moratorium on the transfer of cluster munitions to Israel out
of concern for civilian casualties. Those weapons used more than two
decades ago continue to affect Lebanon.

Israel has in its arsenal cluster munitions delivered by aircraft,
artillery and rockets. Israel is a major producer and exporter of
cluster munitions, primarily artillery projectiles and rockets
containing M85 DPICM (Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munition)
submunitions. Israeli Military Industries, an Israeli government-
owned weapons manufacturer, has reportedly produced more than 60
million M85 DPICM submunitions. Israel also produces at least six
different types of air-dropped cluster bombs, and has imported from
the United States M26 rockets for its Multiple Launch Rocket
Systems.

There is growing international momentum to stop the use of cluster
munitions. Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions
in February 2006, and Norway announced a moratorium on the weapon in
June 2006. Cluster munitions are increasingly the focus of
discussion at the meetings of the Convention on Conventional
Weapons, with ever more states calling for a new international
instrument dealing with cluster munitions.

Human Rights Watch is a founding member, and a steering committee
member, of the Cluster Munition Coalition:
www.stopclustermunitions.org.