Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

the grove of fruit trees. Though she would be unable to pick ripe fruit, she was happy
to be home. 208
As of October 2006, cluster duds had injured at least five Yohmor civilians and killed
one. Shortly after the ceasefire, Salimah Barakat emerged from her home to clear the
rocks and rubble blocking her pathway. 209 She accidentally exploded a dud while
cleaning and spent several days in the hospital for shrapnel wounds. A submunition
explosion killed Yousif Ibrahim Khalil, 30, while he attempted to help clear
submunitions in the road the day after the war. 210 “He was cleaning around it to get it
out of the ground and it exploded,” his friend Kasim M. `Aleik remembered. 211 Another
civilian was harmed in Yohmor when a civilian was doing self-clearance with a
bulldozer. 212 Hussein `Ali Ahmed was injured in late September, also while cleaning his
home, and is now partially paralyzed and unable to talk. 213 Two weeks later, on October
10, Hussein `Ali `Aleik exploded a submunition while walking around his home in
Yohmor. 214
Yohmor, like most of south Lebanon, relies mostly on agriculture for income.
Approximately 60 percent of the village works in agriculture, with 150 families
farming in tobacco alone. Out of economic necessity, some villagers returned to work
in their fields, despite the prevalence of submunitions throughout rural Yohmor. In
October 2006, Human Rights Watch researchers witnessed a farmer picking olives
from a grove scattered with several dozen red-painted sticks demarcating stilluncleared
submunitions.
As of late October 2006, MAG deminers—responsible for the clearance efforts in the
area—had removed most unexploded submunitions from the houses, access roads,
208 Human Rights Watch interview with Hajje Fatima Jawad Mroue, Yohmor, August 17, 2006.
209 Human Rights Watch interview with Salimah Barakat, farmer, Yohmor, October 26, 2006.
210 Human Rights Watch interview with Kasim M. `Aleik, head of Yohmor municipality, Yohmor, October 26, 2006.
211 Ibid.
212 Human Rights Watch interview with Frederic Gras, technical field manager, Mines Advisory Group, October 26, 2006.
213 Human Rights Watch interview with Kasim M. `Aleik, head of Yohmor municipality, Yohmor, October 26, 2006.
214 Ibid.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008