69 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> February 2008
<strong>Watch</strong> in October. 202 “You can see [submunitions] everywhere. Deep inside the town. Everywhere, down to the river.” 203 During the war, the IDF occupied al-Taibe, a town just across the Litani from Yohmor. Frequent firefights between the IDF and Hezbollah, on the north side of the Litani, ensued. Civilians reported that there were cluster munition attacks at night on the last two days of the war. 204 Fortunately, most of the village’s 400 families had left Yohmor by the final strikes on the town, with only 20 families remaining until the end of the war. 205 The day after the ceasefire took effect, Mines Advisory Group sent personnel to the village to warn the carloads of villagers flocking back to Yohmor of the dangers of unexploded submunitions. 206 A MAG representative later wrote: When our team first visited the area on 15 th August, a day after the ceasefire, we were shocked by the level of contamination. Yohmor was particularly affected and we began clearance straight away. Bomblets littered the ground from one end of the village to the other. They were on the roofs of all the houses, in gardens and spread across roads and paths. Some were even found inside houses—they had fallen through windows or holes in the roof blasted by artillery and aircraft. 207 Many families returning to their homes found their houses too dangerous to live in; some, however, decided to return to their homes despite the risks, trying to be as careful as possible. <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interviewed Hajje Fatima Jawad Mroue, 64, shortly after she returned to Yohmor. Submunition strikes had pockmarked her home, leaving a hole in her roof. Unexploded M42 submunitions littered her gardens and 202 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with Kasim M. `Aleik, head of Yohmor municipality, Yohmor, October 26, 2006. 203 Ibid. 204 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with Salimah Barakat, farmer, Yohmor, October 26, 2006. 205 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with Kasim M. `Aleik, head of Yohmor municipality, Yohmor, October 26, 2006. 206 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Rights</strong> <strong>Watch</strong> interview with Frederic Gras, technical field manager, Mines Advisory Group, October 26, 2006. 207 Sean Sutton, Mines Advisory Group, “<strong>Lebanon</strong> Special Report: Yohmor Village—Imprisoned by Bombs,” http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YAOI-6TT9QW?OpenDocument (accessed September 20, 2006). <strong>Flooding</strong> <strong>South</strong> <strong>Lebanon</strong> 70
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Lebanon Flooding South Lebanon Isra
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Civilian Harm......................
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Acronyms BLU CBU CCW COI DPICM ICRC
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Summary The Israel Defense Forces (
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Israel’s strikes in 2006 were the
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leaving behind vast numbers of haza
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compensate for the cluster rockets
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immediately before a negotiated cea
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knowingly or recklessly indiscrimin
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production, transfer and stockpilin
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numerous men, women, and children w
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To the Secretary-General of the Uni
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- Page 38 and 39: An unexploded M77, a US-made dual p
- Page 40 and 41: This CBU-58B cluster bomb casing, s
- Page 42 and 43: likely that the MZD-2s found in Leb
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- Page 48 and 49: with 500-pound bombs. The increase
- Page 50 and 51: Human Rights Watch field research c
- Page 52 and 53: percent, and dismissed the problem
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- Page 60 and 61: submunition causing it to explode.
- Page 62 and 63: Dr. `Abdel Nasser Farran told Human
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- Page 78 and 79: the grove of fruit trees. Though sh
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kidnapped IDF soldiers, and so aver
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Proportionality A further legal req
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In practice, this requires that the
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neutralization offers a definite mi
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it is more brutal. If Hizbullah had
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Another issue of humanitarian conce
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Acknowledgements This report was wr