Exclusive: Israel used widely banned cluster munitions in its recent 13-month war in Lebanon, photos of munition remnants in south Lebanon seen by the Guardian suggest.
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The images, which have been examined by six arms experts, appear to show the remnants of two types of Israeli cluster munitions found in three different locations.
The evidence is the first indication that Israel has used cluster munitions in nearly two decades since it deployed them in the 2006 Lebanon war.
“Cluster munitions are banned internationally for a reason. They are inherently indiscriminate and there is no way to employ them lawfully or responsibly,” said Brian Castner, the head of crisis research at Amnesty International.
Lebanon in particular has a painful history with cluster munitions.
Israel blanketed Lebanon with 4m cluster bombs in the final days of the 2006 war, with an estimated 1m failing to explode.
Israel’s war with Hezbollah, which started in October 2023 and killed almost 4,000 people in Lebanon and about 120 people in Israel, devastated the Lebanese militant group.
Much of Lebanon’s south remains in ruins and Israel still carries out near-daily airstrikes in the country, despite a ceasefire signed last year.
The Israeli military neither confirmed nor denied its use of cluster munitions but said it “uses only lawful weapons, in accordance with international law and while mitigating harm to civilians”.
Read Guardian reporter William Christou’s full report via the link in bio.
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