LEBANON: Scale of Israeli artillery bombardment revealed

The September 9 Haaretz reported that during Israel's 34-day war against Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces fired 1800 cluster bombs containing at least 1.2 million bomblets into Lebanese towns and villages. Haaretz reported that soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army had used phosphorous shells during the war in ways that violated international law. "According to their claims, the vast majority of explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war ... it is believed that there are around 500,000 unexploded munitions on the ground in Lebanon." The paper reported that IDF officers told a parliamentary committee on September 9 that an "estimated 237,000 artillery shells were fired during the war" - an average of around 7000 shells a day.

From GLW issue 684