Israel uses internationally banned cluster bombs in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah

By Stephanie Rady

BEIRUT (AA) – Hezbollah accused Israel on Sunday of shelling border towns in southern Lebanon with internationally banned cluster bombs.

The Lebanese group said the Israeli army bombed the area between the towns of Hanin and Tayri with rockets loaded with banned cluster bombs.

“We are not surprised at all by the new barbaric crime, which is added to Israel’s record of crimes against the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples,” Hezbollah added in a statement.

The use of cluster bombs in or near populated areas is prohibited under the Geneva Conventions as they pose a threat to the lives of civilians.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Hezbollah’s statement.

Israel has mounted massive airstrikes across Lebanon against what it claims are Hezbollah targets since Sept. 23, killing at least 1,437 people, injuring over 4,123 others, and displacing more than 1.34 million people.

The aerial campaign is an escalation from a year of cross-border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah since the start of its offensive on the Gaza Strip, in which Israel has killed more than 42,200 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack last year.

Despite international warnings that the Mideast was on the brink of a regional war amid Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, it expanded the conflict on Oct. 1 by launching a ground incursion into southern Lebanon.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara