Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the Lebanese government is still working hard on overcoming the painful effects of cluster bombs in Lebanon. Mikati added during a lunch he hosted to honor the participants of the second meeting of signatories to the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions that “Lebanon is one of the countries that suffered the most from the effects of these lethal weapons, especially following the Israeli war in July 2006.” “The government is following firm steps toward a full recovery from this problem. However, it cannot make any progress without the help of some partners, including the United Nations, the International Red Cross Committee and a number of donor countries and organizations,” Mikati was quoted as saying by the National News Agency. The United Nations estimates that Israel dropped four million bomblets over southern Lebanon in the final days of its deadly 2006 war with Lebanon. Since then, more than 50 people have been killed and 350 injured by cluster bomb explosions in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Armed Forces says 67 percent of the affected lands have been cleared, but 75 million dollars are still needed to render the country free of cluster bombs.