Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

duds around villages. 268 With the increase in other demining teams, however, the Army
began phasing out major operations in late October 2006. 269 Nevertheless, the Army
will continue to remove submunitions still being found in populated areas. The
mukhtar of Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh said that when you find duds, “you call them [the
Army], and they come and get the bombs.” 270 In late October 2006, when Human
Rights Watch researchers arrived to Halta a few hours after a child was killed by a dud,
the Lebanese Army was already there responding to the community’s call for clearance.
The researchers observed the destruction of approximately 15 submunitions during the
hour they were in Halta. As of June 20, 2007, the Lebanese armed forces had cleared
60,030 submunitions. 271
Hezbollah
In the days after the ceasefire, there were reports of Hezbollah doing clearance of
submunition duds and other explosive remnants of war in certain areas. This
appears to have been limited to emergency operations in civilian areas. On August
22, 2006, a UN demining official told a reporter, “Hezbollah have picked up a large
number of these [submunitions] and put them into boxes and got them away from
the children. It’s not the approved method, but the risk is such that if something is
not done, people will die.” 272 MACC SL told Human Rights Watch in early September
2006 that Hezbollah had stopped doing clearance. Nevertheless, municipal officials
told Human Rights Watch in October 2006 that Hezbollah members still cleared
submunitions when requested, much in the same way that the Lebanese Army
responded to clearance calls. 273
268 Ibid.
269 Human Rights Watch interview with Chris Clark, program manager, MACC SL, Tyre, October 21, 2006; Human Rights Watch
interview with Dalya Farran, media and post clearance officer, MACC SL, Tyre October 21, 2006.
270 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed `Ali Mahdi Suleiman, mukhtar, Zawtar al-Sharkiyeh, October 23, 2006.
271 Email communication from Julia Goehsing, program officer, MACC SL, to Human Rights Watch, July 20, 2007.
272 Lyon, “Israel Cluster-Bombed 170 Sites in Lebanon—UN,” Reuters (quoting Tekimiti Gilbert, operations chief for MACC SL).
273 Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed Qhanfer, municipal leader, `Ainata, October 27, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008