London: Israel used banned cluster munitions in Lebanon in the 13-month long war, The Guardian reported citing remnants of them having found in three different locations in the country.
Citing images and expert opinions, the UK newspaper reported that remnants of two different cluster munitions were found in Wadi Zibqin, Wadi Barghouz and Wadi Deir Siryan.
Cluster munitions are widely banned because the container bombs release many smaller submunitions, small ‘bomblets’ falling over an area ‘the size of several football fields’.
They are deemed to be dangerous due to the likelihood of 40% of submunitions not exploding in the impact leaving civilians vulnerable in the event of stumbling up on them, thus getting killed.
However, Israel is not party to the convention on cluster munitions signed by 124 states which forbid their use, production and transfer.
The report citing six different experts claims that the remnants found are believed to be a Barak Eitan cluster munition, which has ‘cluster’ written on it in Hebrew.
The evidence gathered from the sites reportedly suggest that Israel may have used them almost two decades after it had used them in 2006 Lebanon war.
Tamar Gabelnick, the director of the Cluster Munition Coalition reportedly said: ‘We believe the use of cluster munitions is always in conflict with a military’s duty to respect international humanitarian law because of their indiscriminate nature at time of use and afterwards’.
Despite the findings, Israeli military refused to confirm or deny its use but instead chose to say it ‘uses only lawful weapons, in accordance with international law and while mitigating harm to civilians’.
Started in October 2023, Israel’s war with Hezbollah killed nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon and about 120 in Israel, leaving much of Lebanon in ruins.
Even as the militant group got paralysed in the attack, Israel continues to carry out ‘near-daily airstrikes’ in the country, this is despite a ceasefire was signed last year.
More than 400 people killed in Lebanon from unexploded bomblets since 2006 after Israel dropped 4m cluster bombs during the war with an estimated 1m failing to explode.