Israel asks U.S. to ship cluster bombs quickly

Washington (ANTARA News) - The US government is considering an Israeli request for M-26 artillery rockets with cluster munitions it wants to use against Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, The New York Times said Friday.

The request was likely to be approved shortly, but other officials said the State Department is delaying approval amid concerns the munitions might cause civilian casualties and complicate diplomatic efforts to end the war, a senior US official said as reported by AFP.

The senior official said there was discussion to block the sale because
during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon civilians were killed with the weapon, but added that the rockets would likely be delivered and that Israel would be told to "be careful."

Month-long battles between Israel and Hezbolla militias have left more than 1,000 civilians dead in Lebanon and 38 in Israel, while diplomats at the United Nations have been wrangling over the wording of a proposed resolution urging an end to hostilities.

Described as short-range antipersonnel rockets, the M-26 are fired in
barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area.

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http://www.antara.co.id/en/seenws/?id=18131

Tel Aviv, 11 August - Unable to crush Hezbollah's military capacity despite its month-long bombing and shelling of Lebanon from aircraft and warships, the Israeli government has asked the US administration to speed up delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster bombs, the so-called M-26 artillery rockets. These rockets, which are fired by the dozens, carry over 600 hundred small bombs that explode like a hail of grenades over a broad area and therefore were ordered by Israel from the USA to thwart off an eventual invasion by conventionally armed foreign ground forces.

As of today, US State Department officials are said to be concerned about the possible diplomatic repercussions, as these cluster-bomb carrying rockets, if fired into densely populated Lebanese areas, will wage havoc on the Lebanese population on a still much broader scale, as the month-long bombing has already achieved. The delivery of the M-26 bombs would amount to a green light by the US administration to openly extend Israeli warfare on the civilian population in Lebanon and possibly in the Occupied Territories. According to leading US news outlets, State Department officials admitted it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to be “careful.”

http://www.arabmonitor.info/news/dettaglio.php?idnews=15327&lang=en

...so we can figure out the best places to go and attempt to stop them. Hopefully, we will actually succeed.
It semes that with Congress and the President always supporting Israel, our only chance of succeeding in stopping this part of the attack on Lebanon, is to do it ourselves.