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Last update - 02:24 23/11/2006
IDF trains UN teams in Lebanon in disposal of cluster bombs
By Reuters
 

JERUSALEM - The Israel Defense Forces said yesterday that it is helping to train U.N. peacekeepers on safe clearing of cluster bombs and mines left behind from last summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

The delayed detonation of unexploded Israeli cluster bomblets have killed more that 20 Lebanese and wounded 70 since the war's August 14 cease-fire, drawing international scrutiny and censure of Israel's fighting tactics.
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Lieutenant-Colonel Amit Tesler, commander of the IDF's international training branch, said that in September his unit trained a Spanish contingent from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in clearing munitions. An Italian contingent was due to arrive next in Israel for the week-long course, Tesler told reporters.

"We are offering this service so that those people will arrive in Lebanon with the knowledge necessary to help in their work," he said, adding that the requests for training came from the Spanish and Italian governments.

UNIFIL officials were not immediately available for comment.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of illegally using cluster bombs in populated areas during the war, in which 1,200 Lebanese and 157 Israelis were killed.

Israel says Hezbollah invited innocent casualties by operating within civilian areas, and that the tactics of Israeli forces fell within the bounds of international law.

But earlier this week, IDF chief-of-staff Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz launched an investigation into the firing of cluster bombs, following media reports that he had not authorized wide use of the controversial munitions in fighting.

Fired from cannons or dropped from warplanes, cluster bombs release multiple bomblets. These disperse and are meant to explode when they hit the ground, but many do not.

Israeli television said on Sunday a military probe had shown artillery gunners had contravened Halutz's orders in firing cluster bombs in southern Lebanon during the war.
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