U.S. Investigates Israel’s Use of Cluster Bombs

The State Department has begun investigating whether Israel improperly used American-made cluster bombs during its monthlong fight against the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon, government officials said Friday.

The inquiry comes as human rights groups and a United Nations agency have raised questions about Israel’s use of the munitions, which are normally aimed at large concentrations of military forces because of their ability to cause destruction over a wide area.

According to an internal memo compiled by U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center personnel in southern Lebanon and sent this week to the center’s New York headquarters, investigators found evidence of 249 cluster bomb strikes in southern Lebanon. A U.N. official said the number had reached 288 by Friday.

Although Israel imports a large percentage of its cluster bombs from the U.S., it also has acquired them from Britain and can make some domestically.

Human rights groups and the U.N. have campaigned against the use of the bombs in part because their “bomblets” -- dozens of small explosives dispersed by a single round -- don’t always explode on impact, meaning they can detonate later when disturbed by civilians.

The U.S. frequently restricts the use of weapons it exports to allied countries. Although few of the restrictions on Israel’s use of cluster bombs are made public, reports have said that Israel must limit their use to attacks on organized enemy armies and clearly identified military targets.

An Amnesty International report issued this week says the rights group found widespread evidence of cluster bomb strikes in villages in southern Lebanon, including an attack near the government hospital in the village of Tibnin.

Israel said during the war that Hezbollah fighters were firing on Israeli targets under the cover of civilian buildings.

State Department officials declined to give any details on their investigation, conducted by the department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and first reported by the New York Times. One official indicated it was still in an early, informal stage. “Calls are being made,” the official said.

Israel could face sanctions if it is found to have violated agreements with the United States. In addition, Congress could take action to bar future deliveries.

In 1982, President Reagan ordered the suspension of cluster bomb shipments to Israel pending an investigation of whether they were used on civilian locations. Shipments were reinstated in 1988.

David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, said diplomatic officials had not been notified about the investigation. He noted that Israel uses a wide range of cluster bombs, not all of which are American-made or subject to U.S. restrictions.

The U.N. report says personnel found hundreds of unexploded bomblets from cluster munitions, including 559 M-42s, which are used in artillery shells, and 663 M-77s, used in longer-range rockets.

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Cluster bombs

Israel may have used cluster bombs during its fight against the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon.

How they work

1. Dispensers holding several hundred bomblets apiece are fired from artillery or dropped from a bomber.

2. Dispenser fins open and spin in midair, releasing bomblets.

3. A bomblet explodes when it hits the ground, or it can be programmed to detonate in the air.

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Cluster bombs can cover a 656-by-1,312-foot area.

Some bomblets might not detonate.

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Bomblet

Decelerator makes bomblet fall tip-down.

Bomblet explodes, firing metal-piercing shrapnel in all directions.

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Sources: Federation of American

Scientists, GlobalSecurity.org, Jane’s Information Group, Periscope