HRW: Israel using cluster bombs against civilians
Below please find a press release issued today by Human Rights Watch
regarding the use by Israel of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon. The
evidence includes testimony collected from villagers in Blida and
pictures taken yesterday by HRW staff in Israel along the Israeli-
Lebanese border. I am attaching the press release and the two
pictures of the cluster bombs from the Israeli side (referred to in
the press release). Please circulate widely. Feel free to use the
pictures of the cluster bombs – but please credit HRW as the source
of the pictures.
For Immediate Release
Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon
Israel Must Not Use Indiscriminate Weapons
(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,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of
Human Rights Watch. “They should never be used in populated areas.”
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-
lawOla 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, (
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.
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 conducted detailed analyses of the U.S. military’s
use of cluster bombs in the 1999 Yugoslavia war (http://www.hrw.org/
reports/1999/nato2/), the 2001-2002 Afghanistan war (http://hrw.org/
reports/2002/us-afghanistan/), and the 2003 Iraq war (http://
www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/). 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.
For additional background on cluster munitions, please see the
following Human Rights Watch reports:
“Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq,”
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/
“Fatally Flawed: Cluster Bombs and Their Use by the United States in
Afghanistan,” http://hrw.org/reports/2002/us-afghanistan/
“Ticking Time Bombs: NATO’s Use of Cluster Munitions in Yugoslavia,”
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/nato2/
More documents on cluster munitions at: http://www.hrw.org/doc/?
t=arms_clusterbombs
For Human Rights Watch’s ongoing coverage of the Israel-Lebanon
conflict, please visit: http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel_lebanon/
For more information, please contact:
In Beirut, Peter Bouckaert (English): +961-70-157-318; or +27 82 968
6013
In Beirut, Nadim Houry (English, Arabic, French): + 961-3-639-244
In Jerusalem, Lucy Mair (English): +972-548-167-775
In Amman, Sarah Leah Whitson (English): +1-718-362-0172; or
+962-79-606-4294
In Washington, D.C., Steve Goose (English): +1-202-612-4355; or
+1-540-630-3011
In New York, Marc Garlasco (English): +1-914-450-4251