Hezbollah accused of war crimes; Ed O'Loughlin Herald Correspondent in Jerusalem; September 15, 2006 sydney morning herald

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has accused the Hezbollah militant group of committing war crimes by targeting Israeli citizens with long-range attacks during the 34 day Israel-Lebanon war. Thousands of Hezbollah rockets were fired across the border into northern Israel, killing 43 Israeli civilians. Hundreds of thousands more fled their homes to find safety further south.

In a report released yesterday, Amnesty accused the Shiite militant group of deliberately failing to distinguish between civilian and military targets, and of wrongfully seeking to justify its barrage by claiming to be retaliating for Israel's attacks on Lebanese civilians. Amnesty and several other human rights groups have already accused Israel of committing war crimes with an air and artillery bombardment which Amnesty says killed "some 1000" Lebanese civilians. It called on the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to set up an international investigation into the conduct of both sides in the conflict.

"The fact that Israel in its attacks in Lebanon also committed violations of international humanitarian law amounting to war crimes, including indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, is not an acceptable justification for Hezbollah violating the rules of war, whether as a deterrent or as a means of retaliation or retribution," the report says.

The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz meanwhile, reported that Israeli gunners fired rockets and shells containing more than a million cluster bomblets at targets inside Lebanon, including civilian villages, despite the likelihood that up to 40 per cent of these bomblets would fail to detonate immediately but would remain deadly for years. "The cluster bomb … is described as an 'indiscriminate weapon', which should not be used against targets in civilian areas because, inter alia, it continues to kill once the war is over," said an editorial in the paper. "Since the ceasefire went into effect, 12 Lebanese civilians have been killed by duds that exploded unexpectedly."

The Israeli Defence Force pointed out that neither cluster bombs nor phosphorous shells were banned under international law, and said it only used them in accordance with the rules of war. It denied targeting civilians and said its bombardment was designed solely to prevent Hezbollah firing into Israel.