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Hizbullah has acquired and deployed Chinese-origin cluster bombs.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch asserted that Hizbullah acquired cluster munitions and fired them during the 34-day war with Israel, which ended on August 14. The U.S. group identified the munition as the Chinese-origin Type-81 122 mm rocket.
HRW said Hizbullah fired the Type 81 cluster weapon on July 25 in a rocket attack on the northern Israeli village of Mughar. The group said this was the first confirmed use of the Type 81 submunition anywhere in the world. Israel’s military confirmed the HRW report and said 113 cluster munitions were fired into the Jewish state.
“We are disturbed to discover that not only Israel but also Hizbullah used cluster munitions in their recent conflict, at a time when many countries are turning away from this kind of weapon precisely because of its impact on civilians,” Steve Goose, director of Human Rights Watch’s Arms Division, said.
This was the latest report of Hizbullah’s use of Chinese-origin weapons. On July 14, Hizbullah, aided by Iranian advisers, fired the first of several Chinese-origin C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles toward Israel Navy patrols.
The first C-802 slammed into the INS Hanit Saar-4.5-class corvette and four sailors were killed.
Human Rights Watch said it did not know how Hizbullah acquired the Type 81 cluster munition. The U.S. organization said the latest findings “raise serious concerns about the proliferation of these weapons to non-state armed groups, as well as states.”
The Type-81 cluster munition of the 122 mm rocket contains 39 Type-90 or MZD submunitions. Each submunition was designed to fire hundreds of steel spheres, with each measuring about 3.5 mm in diameter. China, Egypt, Italy, Russia, and Slovakia produce nine types of 122 mm rockets with submunitions, and Sudan and the United Arab Emirates have stockpiled the cluster weapons.
“Human Rights Watch discovered evidence of Hizbollah’s unprecedented use of this cluster munition in the course of ongoing investigations of the group’s attacks on northern Israel during the war that lasted from July 12 until August 14,” HRW said. “Israeli authorities had until now prevented publication of details of Hizbullah cluster strikes in Israel, citing security concerns.”
