The final Israeli report on the 2006 war in Lebanon has recommended that the Israeli army reconsider its rules for dropping cluster bombs, contrasting with a recent internal army probe that determined the weapons were used properly during the 34-day conflict.
The report into the government's handling of the war was issued Wednesday after a 16-month investigation. The five-member commission, headed by a retired judge, criticized both the government and the army for "serious failings and flaws," though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was expected to be a target of criticism, emerged relatively unscathed.
The 629-page report devoted six pages to cluster bombs, which open in flight and scatter dozens of bomblets over wide areas. The United Nations and human rights groups have accused Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bomblets during the campaign against Hezbollah guerrillas. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians, according to U.N. demining experts.
In its report, the commission said Israel did not violate international law by dropping cluster bombs. But it raised questions about the army's use of the weapons, noting a lack of "operational discipline, oversight and control."
"We recommend that on this matter there be a re-evaluation of the rules and principles that apply to the army in using cluster bombs," the report said.
It urged the army to work to limit harm to civilians, including ensuring that people aren't hurt by unexploded bomblets, and to clarify the conditions when firing is permitted. It called on the army to develop less dangerous bombs and better document the whereabouts of unexploded bombs.
According to U.N. monitors in Lebanon, 26 civilians have been killed in explosions in southern Lebanon since the war ended in August 2006, most of them from cluster bombs and a few from other leftover explosives.
The army declined to comment on specifics of the report, but said it was closely evaluating its recommendations. An army statement said it is "fully aware of the failures and lessons that were revealed in the different fields" during the war. "Therefore it is in a midst of a comprehensive and continuing process of correction."
In Beirut, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's office said the Israeli probe failed to hold the army accountable for its actions, including the use of cluster bombs. It said the practice was "a flagrant violation of international norms, human rights and is tantamount to a daily war crime committed against Lebanese civilians."
Last month, the army said it would not press charges against officers who ordered the use of cluster bombs during the Lebanon conflict. It said a yearlong probe had determined the use of the bombs was a "concrete military necessity" and did not violate international humanitarian law.
The investigation found that the majority of cluster bombs were fired at open, uninhabited areas used by Hezbollah, and that cluster bombs were fired at residential areas used by Hezbollah for cover to fire rockets.
In light of Wednesday's report, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel called for an independent appraisal on the army's use of cluster bombs. It also called for a criminal investigation into the practice during the Lebanon war.
The conflict erupted on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah men attacked an Israeli border patrol, killing three soldiers and capturing two.
The fighting left 159 Israelis dead, including 119 soldiers, while in Lebanon more than 1,000 people died, most of them civilians, according to counts by human rights groups, the Lebanese government and The Associated Press.
Israel failed to win the freedom of the soldiers, and Hezbollah has given no signs of life from the pair, who were severely wounded.
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AP correspondent Sam Ghattas in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this article.
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