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Sekneh, 12, in the intensive care ward after an Israel bomblet blew up at her in South Lebanon. (Courtesy: The New York Times). |
CAIRO — Thousands of unexploded bomblets left over by Israeli forces in South Lebanon have turned the area into virtual minefields, causing many civilian deaths, even after the end of the Israeli war.
"The war may be over, but we’re still living in a war," Suad el-Miri told The New York Times Saturday, August 19.
"People think it’s over, but there are still so many bombs around that our lives and our children’s lives remain at risk," she added while watching over her niece at the intensive care ward at Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre.
Her niece, Marwa, 10, and Sekneh, 12, were critically injured when a bomblet left over by Israeli forces in south Lebanon blew up at them in the town of Aita al-Shaab.
"It looked like a little can; it was interesting," recalled Marwa while moaning in pain at the hospital.
Thousands of bomblets spewed from cluster bombs packed into Israeli artillery shells are still littering South Lebanon.
The deadly leftovers have even continued to kill more Lebanese civilians after a UN-brokered truce took into effect to end the Israeli onslaught in Lebanon.
Just hours after the truce took into effect early Monday, August 14, a Lebanese civilian was killed and six others wounded when Israeli cluster bombs exploded in the southern village of Ansar.
Two people were also killed in Kafr Rumman and Masaydoun, according to the Mines Advisory Group, a British-based nongovernmental organization.
In the town of Haboush, two children were killed when they uncovered a bomblet.
An elderly woman was further seriously wounded when she set off a bomblet while sweeping inside her home.
Israel acknowledges that it dropped cluster bombs during the Lebanon war.
The cluster bombs, many made by the United States, are designed to penetrate thick armor as well as to kill or maim enemy soldiers within several yards.
The bombs release small bomblets in midair, expected to fall to the ground and explode on impact across a wide area.
Human Rights Watch has called on the Bush administration to reject an Israeli request for the delivery of cluster munitions to use in its relentless offensive in Lebanon.
"Humanitarian Nightmare"
The Israeli bomblets have even brought efforts to rebuild the country and to revive the Lebanese economy after the month-long Israeli offensive to a halt.
"People can’t go into their banana plantations because they are scared of unexploded ordnance," said David Shearer, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in southern Lebanon.
"It is the biggest obstacle to restarting the economy."
Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch, said the Israeli bomblets were a "humanitarian nightmare" for the Lebanese civilians.
"A cluster bomb cannot differentiate between civilian and military areas," he said.
"You could say maybe the town was empty of civilians when it was fired, but the people eventually come home and have to face a minefield. It becomes a humanitarian nightmare."
Up to 1,200 Lebanese civilians, a third of whom were children, have been killed when Israel launched a wide-scale blitz in Lebanon on July 12.
The hard-won infrastructure of the Arab country has been left in tatters, with Israel knocking out Beirut international airport, bombing ports, destroying bridges, setting power stations ablaze and reducing houses to rubble.
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