"Israel" switches to home−made cluster bombs

Source: Press TV, 01-10-2008

The ‘Israeli' army is equipping itself with self-destruct cluster bombs to replace defective US-made munitions, defense officials say.

According to ‘Israeli' radio, the ‘Israeli' military has begun a switch to the M85 cluster bomb, manufactured by ‘Israel' Military Industries (IMI), which contain a self-destruct mechanism if they fail to explode upon impact.

During the last three days of the Israeli 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006, ‘Israel' showered south Lebanon with millions of US-made cluster shells, each containing dozens or hundreds of grenade-size bomblets. Most of the bombs were dropped during the 72 hour period between the UN Security Council vote on resolution 1701 which ended the war and the official end of hostilities.

UN efforts to clear Lebanon's soil of ‘Israeli' cluster bombs have so far identified 516 cluster bomb
strike locations. The UN says 30 to 40 percent of the bomblets they scattered over the south failed to explode - effectively leaving the region littered with landmines.

Unexploded cluster bomblets have killed at least 40 Lebanese civilians since the end of the 33-day war and wounded hundreds more.

In May, delegates from 111 countries signed a landmark treaty in Dublin that bans the use, production, transfer or stockpiling of cluster munitions.

The United States, however, along with ‘Israel', China and Russia, declined to join the global drive to ban the cluster bomb.