Israel to limit cluster bombs in possible war with Hezbollah

          
Israel would use a lot fewer cluster munitions in any future war with Hezbollah than it did in their 2006 conflict, even though it would go into southern Lebanon earlier and harder, a senior Israeli military officer said on Monday.          

The disclosure confirms Israel already has detailed planning for an offensive aiming to avoid some controversial tactics used in the 34-day push against the Iranian-backed guerrillas.          

Israel has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, whose adoption in 2008 was spurred partly by Lebanese casualties of the bomblets, some of which lay scattered and unexploded until they were accidentally detonated by civilian passersby.             

"Due to a whole range of considerations -- legitimacy, our non-indifference to the treaty, effectiveness and other factors -- cluster use is expected to be reduced in combat in the rural areas," the officer told foreign journalists.             

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said "rural areas" meant "most of southern Lebanon". The scattering of cluster bombs, whether by artillery or the air force, would be "much reduced, significantly reduced", he said.                    

Hezbollah is outgunned by the technologically superior Israeli forces, but in 2006 it proved adept at fighting covertly and hitting Israeli towns with rockets. Some 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, died in the war.


REUTERS