UN slams Israel over details of ordnance dropped on Lebanon

AFP News brief
Tuesday, August 15, 2007
Agence France Presse

The UN mine clearance agency on Tuesday slammed Israel for failing to cooperate in providing data on the location of areas where it dropped cluster bombs during its war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"In spite of repeated requests for information, Israel has not provided the required Strike Data -- location of intended target, quantity and type of ordnance dropped or fired -- that is required to quantify the problem," the UN Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC) said.

"Without this Strike Data, detailed parameters of the size and scope of the problem remain elusive and operational planning is constantly being adjusted to meet the newly found reality on the ground," the statement added.

MACC said that one year after the ceasefire that ended the blistering month-long war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah, 126,000 unexploded sub-munitions, or bomblets, had been located and destroyed.

The United Nations believes that of the cluster bomblets dropped by Israel over Lebanon during the war, up to one million failed to detonate on impact.

At least 28 people have been killed and 177 injured by the weapons since the conflict ended on August 14, 2006, according to the UN.

Cluster munitions spread bomblets over a wide area from a single container. The bomblets often do not explode on impact, but can do so later at the slightest touch, making them as deadly as anti-personnel landmines.

MACC said clearance operations in the past year had resulted in a marked decrease in civilian casualties and had allowed access to agricultural land.

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