"but armies of democratic countries only use it in smoke and illuminant munitions."

Armies of those countries who are signatories to the "Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons." agreed in 1980, which covers "Prohibitions or Restrictions on use of Incendiary Weapons." have agreed to be restricted in their use of incendiary weapons

Neither the United States or Israel have ratified Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons, Protocol IV on Blinding Lasers, and Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War.
Neither have approved an amendment that extends the convention's application beyond just interstate conflicts to intrastate conflicts.

Israel has signed, but not ratified, the Chemical Weapons Convention; it has not signed the Biological Weapons Convention


Keith, the Pentagon has admitted to the use of WP incendiary weapons in Iraq against insurgents on the basis that their use against military targets is not prohibited.

'Pentagon spokesman Lt-Col Barry Venable said this week that WP had been used, "to fire at the enemy" in Iraq. "It burns... it's an incendiary weapon. That is what it does." '
The Independent 17 November 2005

From the Israeli newspaper Haaretz 22.10.06

"Israel has acknowledged for the first time that it attacked Hezbollah targets during the second Lebanon war with phosphorus shells.
White phosphorus causes very painful and often lethal chemical burns to those hit by it, and until recently Israel maintained that it only uses such bombs to mark targets or territory.

Some experts believe that phosphorus munitions should be termed Chemical Weapons (CW) because of the way the weapons burn and attack the respiratory system. As a CW, phosphorus would become a clearly illegal weapon.

The International Red Cross is of the opinion that there should be a complete ban on phosphorus being used against human beings and the third protocol of the Geneva Convention on Conventional Weapons restricts the use of "incendiary weapons," with phosphorus considered to be one such weapon.

Israel and the United States are not signatories to the Third Protocol.

In November 2004 the U.S. Army used phosphorus munitions during an offensive in Faluja, Iraq. Burned bodies of civilians hit by the phosphorus munitions were shown by the press, and an international outcry against the practice followed."