Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

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of the fighting. Although no one is known to have been injured during the attacks, buildings including a primary school were severely damaged. According to MACC SL, from the ceasefire until January 15, 2008, cluster duds had injured 10 civilians and killed one in the Zawtars. 219 Roughly 90 to 95 percent of the towns’ residents left during the war. 220 Some, however, like 56-year-old Muhammad Àli Yaghi, stayed during the entire conflict and witnessed the barrage of cluster munitions. He said Israel began dropping cluster munitions in the fields outside the village on August 8 and inside the village during the last four days. “All of the town was destroyed the last four days. I was with my brother when they fell, about August 8 in the fields. They started in the surrounding areas, then here in town.” 221 Because Yaghi’s home was littered with cluster munitions, he was forced to seek refuge at his brother’s house down the road for the remainder of the war. When Human Rights Watch researchers visited Yaghi’s home, they counted 18 submunition holes in the ceilings of his house, including holes above his daughter’s bed. Because of the immediate danger posed to his family by duds, Yaghi collected submunitions from around his home by himself. He told Human Rights Watch, “There were 22 bombs around the house in the paprika garden. I cleared them. I took them to some place, ducked behind a wall, and threw them. The explosion was about 20 meters in diameter.” 222 Yaghi’s method of “clearance” was not only extremely dangerous to himself, but also to those in the area where he disposed of the munitions. Tossed duds that may have failed to explode will pose a future threat in the area. Yaghi’s home was one of many buildings damaged by cluster munitions. Particularly troubling was the severe damage done to al-Sheikh Naïm Mahdi primary school in Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh. Human Rights Watch researchers observed shrapnel damage all 219 MACC SL Casualty List. The Landmines Resource Center, as of January 2, 2008, reported 20 injuries and one death from the Zawtars. 220 Human Rights Watch interview with Àli Àqil Shaytani, Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh, October 23, 2006; Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed Àli Mahdi Suleiman, mukhtar, Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh, October 23, 2006. 221 Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammad Àli Yaghi, Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh, October 23, 2006. 222 Ibid. 73 Human Rights Watch February 2008
Al-Sheikh Naïm Mahdi primary school in Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh exhibits the typical pockmarked walls of a building struck by cluster munitions. On October 23, 2006, the municipal leader said that deminers had removed 2,000 to 3,000 submunitions from the property. © 2006 Bonnie Docherty/Human Rights Watch over the face of the building and small pits in the pavement surrounding the school caused by submunitions. Ahmed Àli Mahdi Suleiman, the municipal leader of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh, said the Lebanese Army and MAG cleared the school following the ceasefire, removing 2,000 to 3,000 submunitions. 223 According to the local people interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Hezbollah had not used the school at any time during the war, and there had been no Hezbollah forces anywhere in the town. The hazards of cluster munitions continued to plague the residents of the Zawtars, with injuries still taking place months after the conflict ended. One of the first casualties was 23-year-old Amin Mustafa Yaghi, who was injured by a cluster munition only a week after the ceasefire. He and his brother were walking down the 223 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed Àli Mahdi Suleiman, mukhtar, Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh, October 23, 2006. Flooding South Lebanon 74
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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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Cluster Munitions and International
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At least 14 states and a small numb
Page 30 and 31: • Refraining from launching attac
Page 32 and 33: This does not just mean immediate c
Page 34 and 35: Israel is a major producer and expo
Page 36 and 37: Types of Cluster Munitions and Subm
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
Page 44 and 45: contaminated by submunitions. 89 Ho
Page 46 and 47: Timing and Targets: When and How Cl
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
Page 54 and 55: A UNIFIL deminer holds an Israeli-m
Page 56 and 57: Civilian Harm Cluster munitions hav
Page 58 and 59: 51 Human Rights Watch February 2008
Page 60 and 61: submunition causing it to explode.
Page 62 and 63: Dr. Àbdel Nasser Farran told Human
Page 64 and 65: Agriculture Perhaps the most danger
Page 66 and 67: exploded, and a young woman was pic
Page 68 and 69: from the war. 180 Tragedy struck wh
Page 70 and 71: injured in my legs. I still can’t
Page 72 and 73: in operation for many years, includ
Page 78 and 79: the grove of fruit trees. Though sh
Page 82 and 83: oad to visit his cousin when his br
Page 84 and 85: Four-year-old Àli Muhammad Yaghi w
Page 86 and 87: place.” 237 Assessing the monetar
Page 88 and 89: especially because we needed to irr
Page 90 and 91: conflict interrupted existing clear
Page 92 and 93: An engine from a US-made M26 Multip
Page 94 and 95: duds around villages. 268 With the
Page 96 and 97: Various reasons exist as to why com
Page 98 and 99: Lack of Israeli Assistance Perhaps
Page 100 and 101: checkpoints. Similarly, UNIFIL has
Page 102 and 103: Israel’s Statements on the Use of
Page 104 and 105: This statement followed the finding
Page 106 and 107: investigations into Israel’s appa
Page 108 and 109: that would confirm that these weapo
Page 110 and 111: specific to the weapons. When conce
Page 112 and 113: disregard of that character, they g
Page 114 and 115: employed, the way that they were us
Page 116 and 117: are antipersonnel, area denial weap
Page 118 and 119: emain to take care of elderly or si
Page 120 and 121: early 2007 aimed at identifying the
Page 122 and 123: the United States, there is little
Page 124 and 125: Conclusion Israel’s use of cluste
Page 126 and 127: kidnapped IDF soldiers, and so aver
Page 128 and 129: Proportionality A further legal req
Page 130 and 131:
In practice, this requires that the
Page 132 and 133:
neutralization offers a definite mi
Page 134 and 135:
it is more brutal. If Hizbullah had
Page 136 and 137:
Another issue of humanitarian conce
Page 138 and 139:
Acknowledgements This report was wr
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Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

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