Lebanon
Israel has used cluster munitions in Lebanon in 1978, 1982, 1996, December 1995, and July-August 2006. Israel discontinued the use of cluster munitions for several years after 1982, when the Reagan administration announced in July of that year that it would prohibit new exports of cluster munitions to Israel, as Israel may have violated its 1952 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement with the United States prohibiting use of cluster munitions in civilian areas.
Aliyah Hajek
- Aliya Hayek © Handicap International
Aliyah Hajek (Yohmour village, Nabatiyyah province, South Lebanon) Wednesday 30 August 2006, at dawn. Although the best time for harvesting tobacco had largely passed, Aliyah and her sister Husniyah went to their tobacco field to salvage some of their crop. Tobacco is the only source of income for their family, other than financial contributions of relatives abroad.
In the field they saw some strange objects with ribbons, but they watched their step and continued. When they finished, they put the bag in the booth of the car; it exploded. A submunition probably got entangled in the tobacco leaves and was set off when the bag was thrown into the car. Aliyah had put the bag in the car and had to be sent to the hospital.
Her face remained largely protected by the opened booth, but she suffered very severe shrapnel injuries in her right leg and lighter ones in her left one. Several operations were necessary to remove shrapnel from her stomach and waist area, and she lost two fingers of her right hand.
Despite some small leg injuries, Husniyah was not taken to hospital.
Aliyah is part of a family of 11 and unmarried. She and Husniya live at their elderly mother’s house. The income from tobacco has to feed the three of them and another sibling with a chronic illness.
Aliyah might never be able to work in the tobacco fields again, making the family completely dependent on the assistance of relatives abroad. Her biggest worry is that other people will get hurt by the bombs.
Collected by Habouba Aoun (Landmine Resource Center) and Katleen Maes (Handicap International) on 6 September 2006.
Iraq
Iraqi soldiers first coined the name ‘steel rain’ to describe cluster bombs in the Kuwait War of 1991. In the 2003 conflict, the USA and the UK dropped nearly 13,000 cluster munitions, containing an estimated 1.8 to 2 million submunitions within 3 weeks of combat. Cluster bomb strikes were a major cause of civilian casualties with hundreds of civilian deaths and injuries around the country. There were 1,000 civilians injured and 1,000 civilians killed by cluster bombs in the six months following the end of the war.
While the number of cluster bombs used is daunting, the fact that they were used extensively in populated areas is equally disturbing. In the case of the US, cluster strikes in populated areas were often made using radar to remotely hone in on targets, without any visual confirmation whether civilians were present in the target area.
Ahmed Kamel - 12 years old
- Ahmed in the hospital © A. Carle / Handicap International
Ahmed Kamel is 12 years old and lives near Kerbala, Iraq. The area was bombarded and many unexploded cluster bombs were left scattered around.
Several months after the end of the conflict, Ahmed was walking with his 9-year-old brother when they were attracted by a shiny object. Ahmed picked it up and the cluster bomb exploded.
His right hand and three fingers of the left hand were torn off. He also lost his eye and received many shrapnel wounds to his torso and head.
Ahmed went through four operations and his younger brotherwas also injured by the shrapnel. Their parents had to sell all their belongings to pay for medical care.
