Rights grp asks US to deny Israel cluster bombs

Beirut, Aug 12: The United States should refuse to give more rockets armed with cluster munitions to Israel because they would increase the civilian death toll in Lebanon, a US-based rights watchdog said today.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Israel had asked the Bush administration to speed up delivery of short-range anti-personnel rockets armed with cluster munitions.

''These weapons killed or wounded hundreds of civilians in Iraq in 2003. Washington has a duty not to assist in replicating that death toll in southern Lebanon,'' Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said ''harm to civilians is inevitable'' if Washington accepts the reported request by Israel to speed up delivery of the M26 anti-personnel rockets, which scatter hundreds of small bombs over target areas.

Many of these initially fail to explode, leaving what the group called ''hazardous explosive 'duds'... akin to landmines, injuring and killing civilians long after the attack''.

The Israeli army said in a statement: ''The use of cluster munitions is legal under international law and the IDF uses such munitions in accordance with international standards.'' Officials at the Israeli Ministry of Defence were not available for comment.

The US Defense Department, without confirming or denying the New York Times report, said: ''We fully support Israel's right to defend itself.'' At least 1,060 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon during Israel's month-old war with Hizbollah guerrillas, whose attacks have killed 124 Israelis.

''Israel's persistent failure to recognize the reality that many civilians remain in southern Lebanon makes its promise not to use cluster munitions in civilian areas unreliable,'' Roth said.

Last month, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using artillery-fired cluster grenades against a Lebanese village in an attack that killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians.

REUTERS