Cluster bombs still kill, maim in Lebanon

TYRE, Lebanon — Hassan Tehini does not want to go home anymore.

"I was so homesick for Aita al-Shaab. Now I don't miss it at all," the 10-year-old said weakly, as he slumped against the wall of a hospital in this coastal city.

Lucky to be alive, Hassan was recovering from massive abdominal wounds inflicted by what he and two cousins thought was a small ball, unearthed from the rubble of their hometown and perfectly suited for a game of catch. It was really one of the small explosive devices spewed by so-called cluster munitions — bombs, shells or rockets used by the Israeli military that burst above ground and spread smaller bombs over a wide area.

Hassan and his two cousins, like dozens of other Lebanese civilians, became casualties of war after the 33-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah had subsided. Since the guns fell silent Aug. 14, unexploded cluster bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes or duds fired by artillery have killed 12 people and wounded 39, according to Chris Clarke, head of the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center attached to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Two of the dead and 11 of the wounded were children.

Todd Hart, another U.N. de-mining specialist, told journalists Thursday that U.N. and Lebanese government mine-disposal teams have discovered and destroyed a dozen normal bombs, plus 1,800 smaller bomblets sprayed out from cluster bombs.

Clarke said that "as of today, we have confirmed 289 cluster-bomb locations," many of them in residential areas.

"We are finding many cluster bombs in the rubble — they just blend in."

Clarke said the State Department was investigating whether Israel had violated guidelines for U.S.-made cluster munitions that ban their use in civilian areas.

A military spokesman in Israel said, "All the weapons and munitions used by the Israel Defense Forces are legal under international law, and their use conforms with international standards."