A Million Unexploded Cluster Bomblets:

The Deadly Legacy of Israel's Assault on Lebanon

Report from Lebanon by George T. Cody, Ph.D.

Executive Director, American Task Force for Lebanon

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz plans to appoint a major general to investigate the use of cluster bombs — some of which were fired against his order — during the Lebanon war. Halutz ordered the IDF to use cluster bombs with extreme caution and not to fire them into populated areas. Nonetheless, it did so anyway, primarily using artillery batteries and the Multiple Launch System (MRLS). IDF artillery, MLRS and aircraft are thought to have delivered thousands of cluster bombs, containing a total of some 4 million bomblets during the war."

— Ha'aretz (Israeli daily newspaper), November 20, 2006

On my ten-day trip to Lebanon, I learned that the "very high price" that Israel imposed on Lebanon is still being paid. Lebanese civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed and maimed by unexploded Israeli cluster bomblets — a million of them — which Israel fired during the summer war with Hezbollah. Here is some of what I learned on my trip:

Unexploded Ordnance Left by Israel: Where is the Accountability?

In the summer war Israel dropped an estimated 1.2 to 4 million cluster "bomblets" on Lebanon from rockets, artillery, and airplanes. The UN estimates that Israel fired 90 percent of those munitions in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when Israel knew that a ceasefire (UN Security Council Resolution 1701) was imminent.

The United Nations estimates a 30% to 40% actual failure rate for cluster bomblets in Lebanon, leaving them to kill and maim innocent Lebanese. According to officials I spoke to at the Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon (MACC-SL), the UN agency responsible for removing unexploded ordnance in Lebanon, 30 people have been killed and another 203 injured from unexploded ordnance in Lebanon since August 14, when hostilities ended.

As of November 2006, 824 cluster bomb strike locations have been identified in South Lebanon, and with the help of UNIFIL engineers and the Lebanese Armed Forces, they have cleared 78,738 unexploded bomblets (about 8% of the total). As MACC-SL spokeswoman Dalya Farran told me, however, not one of the 824 bomb-strewn sites has been fully cleared yet.

What are cluster munitions?

Cluster munitions are bombs or rockets that contain 200 to 600 smaller bombs, or "bomblets," that are designed to scatter over a wide area when the larger bomb is detonated. Bomblets are typically the size of a soda can or a D-cell battery and are designed to explode soon after impact. But not all of them do. Instead, unexploded bombs often litter the target area — silent and nondescript — until picked up by a child, kicked by a passerby, or stepped on by an unsuspecting farmer or grazing animal. They are hidden killers.

Who clears the bomblets? How is it done?

I met with officials at the MACC-SL office in Tyre. They escorted me to a banana grove near Ismaieyeh and introduced me to the eight-person UN Battle Area Clearance (BAC) team responsible for clearing the unexploded cluster bomblets scattered throughout the site.

Unexploded bomblets are detonated by hand or by special charges that are placed next to the ordnance and then exploded. One of the big problems is obtaining enough explosives to detonate bomblets in the field. The explosives are imported in bulk but are not manufactured quickly enough to meet the need.

The UN officials then escorted me within inches of "live" cluster bombs that had been marked and surrounded by sand bags for later detonation. (See the photo at right.)

How extensive is the damage?

According to the United Nations, the cluster bomb contamination in Lebanon is the worst ever seen, worse than the contamination in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The reason for this is the sheer volume of cluster bombs dropped on a "postage stamp" size country like Lebanon. There will be a residual landmine and unexploded ordnance problem in Lebanon for years to come.

Seventy percent of south Lebanon's economy is based on agriculture, mostly tobacco, olives, bananas, citrus fruit and melons. Farmers cannot tend their fields because the bombing and shelling have destroyed crops, and they cannot plant spring crops because the fields and orchards are still contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs.

It has taken 3 months to locate and clear about 8% of the total estimated bomblets. About 32,000,000 square meters of land in Lebanon are currently contaminated. It will take 50 Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams, from the current 38 teams (10-15 persons per team), working 20 days per month, almost a year to clear and "break the back" of the cluster bomb problem to the point where killing will stop and agricultural production can resume.

The above clearing plan depends on adequate funding. The program will be short $7 million to $8 million, with current outlays expected to run out in mid-2007, unless funding continues. A number of countries (including Australia, Canada, Chile, and members of the European Union) have provided initial funding. The UAE has provided $20 million. And the U.S. has provided $2 million of a $7 million aid pledge.

Why won't Israel give up the bombing site coordinates to the UN?

The UN has been "screaming" for information on where Israel fired cluster bombs. Israel is reluctant to give up battlefield information that would provide the dates and coordinates, because this would leave them open to international and humanitarian scrutiny on its use of cluster bombs in civilian areas.

Join the campaign to stop the carnage in Lebanon and ban the cluster bomb by signing the following petition (click on ATFL logo below):