Cluster bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cluster bomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Afghanistan, 2001

"Afghanistan, 2001

• Used by the United States^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Iraq, 2003

• Used by the United States and the United Kingdom

The NGO Human Rights Watch claims Iraqi civilians were attacked with at least two million Cluster Munition bombs during Operation Iraqi Freedom by the US and the UK in 2003.^[11]

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Lebanon, 1978, 1982 and 2006

• Extensively used by Israel during the 1978 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the 1982-2000 occupation of Lebanon and in the 2006 Lebanon War.

During the Israeli-Lebanese conflict in 1982, Israel used cluster munitions, many of them American-made, on targets in southern Lebanon. Israel also used cluster bombs in the 2006 Lebanon War.^[12][13][14]

Two types of cluster munitions were transferred to Israel from the U.S. The first was the CBU-58 which uses the BLU-63 bomblet. This cluster bomb is no longer in production. The second was the MK-20 Rockeye, produced by Honeywell Incorporated in Minneapolis.^[source?] The CBU-58 was used by Israel in Lebanon in both 1978 and 1982.^[12] The Israeli Defense company Israel Military Industries also manufactures the more up-to-date M-85 cluster bomb.

Hezbollah fired Chinese-manufactured cluster munitions into Israel using 122-mm rocket launchers during the 2006 war, hitting Kiryat Motzkin,Nahariya, Karmiel, Maghar, and Safsufa. A total of 113 rockets and 4,407 submunitions were fired into Israel during the war. The rockets killed one person and injured twelve.^[15]

The United Nations and human rights groups have accused Israel of dropping as many as 4 million cluster bomblets onto targets in Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanon war.^[16][17]

"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."^[17][18]

Human Rights Watch said there was evidence that Israel had used cluster bombs very close to civilian areas and described them as "unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians" and that "they should never be used in populated areas."^[19]Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using cluster munitions in an attack on Bilda, a Lebanese village, on 19 July^[20] which killed 1 civilian and injured 12, including seven children. The Israeli "army defended ... the use of cluster munitions in its offensive with Lebanon, saying that using such munitions was 'legal under international law' and the army employed them 'in accordance with international standards.'"^[21]Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev added, "[I]f NATO countries stock these weapons and have used them in recent conflicts — inYugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq — the world has no reason to point a finger at Israel."^[22]"

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