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Attacks on civilian areas in Lebanon and Israel by combatants on both sides have been a major component in the conflict. Over one-third of the Israelis killed by Hezbollah and the majority of the Lebanese killed by Israeli forces have been civilians.

Introduction

Israel, Lebanon, and the international community have all expressed grave concern over the damage to civilian life and property that has resulted from the current conflict. During a visit to Lebanon, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland criticized Israel's response to Hezbollah's rocket firing, calling it "disproportionate" and "a violation of international humanitarian law." He also criticized what he called Hezbollah's deliberate and "cowardly blending" among civilians: "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," he said. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed "grave concern over the continued killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory." She suggested that the actions of Israel and Hezbollah may constitute war crimes. Arbour called for Israel to obey the "principle of proportionality" and said, "Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians ... Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable."

Amnesty International condemned both Israel and Hezbollah and called for UN intervention, stating early on that the region "has seen a horrendous escalation in attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. Yet the G8 leaders have failed conspicuously to uphold their moral and legal obligation to address such blatant breaches of international humanitarian law, which in some cases have amounted to war crimes". Robert Fisk, a correspondent for The Independent, said "Hezbollah is killing more Israeli soldiers than civilians and the Israelis are killing far more Lebanese civilians than they are guerrillas".

Targeting by Israel

Strikes on Lebanon's civilian population and infrastructure include Rafik Hariri International Airport, ports, a lighthouse, grain silos, bridges, roads, factories, medical and relief trucks, mobile telephone and television stations, fuel containers and service stations, and the country's largest dairy farm Liban Lait. UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, called Israel's offensive "disproportionate" and "a violation of international humanitarian law" . Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent, reported from Beirut, "It used to be that the Red Cross or the Red Crescent, or some sort of health care sign made you immune in some ways on a battlefield. Not so here. We're hearing stories, confirmed stories, now about ambulances actually being attacked. Hospitals actually being bombed, so much so, that they can no longer function." The BBC reported that families evacuating the village of Marwahin in South Lebanon were struck on an open road by an Israeli missile attack; killing 17, many of them women and children. Human Rights Watch called for an investigation into this incident. There have been numerous reports of attacks on fleeing civilians; on 23 July 2006 three families fleeing Tyre at the command of the IDF were attacked by rockets fired from Israeli helicopters; all were prominently waving a white flag from their automobiles.

An Israeli official stated that "Hezbollah has a huge arsenal and has fired 1,000 missiles at us. We are acting in self-defense. We are targeting only military objectives, including transport facilities that Hezbollah can use, but you have to remember that Hezbollah often hides in civilian areas. We sent flyers and gave other warnings to civilians to leave before our attacks." Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel has no intention to harm Lebanese civilians, but warned that civilians who live near Hezbollah weapon caches were in danger: "Because we know that some of their rocket caches, which are fired at Israel, are hidden in private apartments, I call on these residents to leave their homes. He who lives near a rocket is likely to get hurt."

The targeting of civilians may partially be Lebanon's own fault. In mid-June, the Lebanese Security Service arrested as many as 80 Lebanese citizens allegedly working for Mossad. These arrests, if valid, would have allowed Hezbollah time to redeploy to new locations prior to the conflict, leaving the Israeli Air Force partly blinded.

On 30 July 2006, Israel hit a residential building in Qana that housed refugees, which Israel said was near Hezbollah rocket launching sites; 28 people died, including 16 children.; the death toll initially reported was 57 people including 34 children . The deadly air strike, which followed Israeli attacks on two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances in Qana one week before on 24 July and Israel's infamous Qana massacre in 1996, sparked angry denunciations in Lebanon. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora revoked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's invitation to Lebanon and said, "Out of respect for the souls of our innocent martyrs and the remains of our children buried under the rubble of Qana, we scream out to our fellow Lebanese and to other Arab brothers and to the whole world to stand united in the face of the Israeli war criminals."

The UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, has said that one third of the dead are children, and declared that the "horrific" leveling of "block after block" of buildings in Beirut "makes it a violation of humanitarian law." By Egeland's estimates, in his address to the United Nations Security Council, more than 500,000 Lebanese have been rendered internal refugees in Lebanon, as they have fled from the ongoing bombardments from Israel, and there is a mounting humanitarian situation in the country. . The figure has now jumped to over 1,000,000.

An IDF source said that in the fighting with Hezbollah in the Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil, aerial attacks have been ruled out in favor of ground troops for fear of harming the few hundred civilians thought to remain. Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation.

Furthermore UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland had appealed for a truce to allow casualties to be removed and food and medicine to be sent into the war zone, saying one third of the casualties in the conflict were children. But Israel has until now kept its blockade on Lebanon and has rejected such calls.

Israel's position

Israeli officials claim that they try to minimize the civilian casualties by dropping leaflets that warn civilians to leave the area before attacks.

On 14 July, IDF Army Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz declared that, "nothing is safe (in Lebanon), as simple as that."

On 19 July, during a speech at a pro-Israel rally in New York, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, said: “To those countries who claim that we are using disproportionate force, I have only this to say: You’re damn right we are. Because if your cities were shelled the way ours were, if your citizens were terrorized the way ours are, you would use much more force than we are using”. He has also said, “One who goes to sleep with rockets shouldn't be surprised if he doesn’t wake up in the morning.”

On 24 July, it was reported that Army Chief of Staff Halutz, according to a "senior officer", had issued orders to destroy 10 multi-storey buildings in southern Beirut for every rocket fired on Haifa. The same day the IAF/IDF confirmed it had destroyed ten buildings in Beirut, including what it described as "a vital target", but the nature of the target was not revealed. In response to the press reports, the IDF Spokesperson's Office first released a statement saying that reporters had misquoted "the senior officer", but later issued a new statement saying that the officer in question had made a mistake and was wrong in claiming that Halutz had issued such a "retaliation" directive.

On 26 July, during a security cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Olmert, the Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon is claimed to have said that any civilians remaining in southern Lebanon after having received warning leaflets should be considered "terrorists".

On 27 July, Professor Asa Kasher, who wrote IDF's Code of Conduct, said that the IDF may be "morally justified" to "obliterate areas with high concentrations of terrorists, even if civilian casualties result".

On August 6, in reference to EU criticism of civilian casualties resulting from IDF activity in Lebanon, Prime Minister Olmert said, "Where do they get the right to preach to Israel? European countries attacked Kosovo and killed 10,000 civilians. 10,000! And none of these countries had to suffer before that from a single rocket. I'm not saying it was wrong to intervene in Kosovo. But please: Don't preach to us about the treatment of civilians." Reuters underscored that, according to Human Rights Watch, the NATO intervention in Kosovo lasted 78 days and caused a minimum 500 civilian deaths. Yugoslav government claimed that NATO attacks caused up to 5,700 civilian casualties, some sources go even up to 18,000.

Attacks on ambulances

On 13 July three Red Cross volunteers were wounded when an ambulance was hit.

• On 18 July the IDF attacked a convoy of ambulances and trucks operated by the United Arab Emirates Red Crescent (UAERC) on the road between Damascus and Beirut. One truck was destroyed, two were damaged and four passenger vehicles were damaged, causing injuries.

According to CNN's Paula Zahn on 24 July, the Red Cross said that "an Israeli missile hit two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances that were parked inside the Lebanese town of Qana evacuating civilians—the wounded included a 60-year-old woman and 12-year-old boy who's now in a coma." The ambulances were hit around 11.15 pm while wounded patients were being from one ambulance to another. The ICRC recorded nine people including six Red Cross volunteers wounded in the attack.

It was reported on 26 July that "at least 10 Lebanese ambulances bearing the emblem of the international red cross have become targets in Israeli air strikes", resulting in the injury of six emergency workers. Additionally, an ambulance marked as belonging to the Shiite Amal militia was struck by Israeli aircraft fire near Tyre.

On August 11 it was reported that the IDF had wounded several aid workers during an airstrike that hit a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance in Tibnin, southeast of Tyre. It was also reported by Associated Press that an ambulance dispatched to deal with the casualties from the airstrikes against a civilian convoy originating in Marjayoun was also attacked. The Red Cross also confirmed that a Red Cross worker had been killed in the attack on the convoy.

Israel has explained its actions bringing documented cases of Palestinians abusing the neutrality of ambulances and medical facilities for terrorist purposes.

On March 26, 2002, a Tanzim operative named Ahmed Jibril was detained at by the IDF south of Ramallah. Jibril was an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRC). He was arrested while driving an ambulance belonging to the PRC in which were found an explosives belt and explosives. Jibril admitted that Mahmoud Titi, a Tanzim leader in Samaria, told him to deliver them to Tanzim operatives in Ramallah. While carrying the explosives, Jibril had a woman and three children, aged 6 months, three and four years old, in the ambulance. The explosives belt held sixteen pipes containing approximately 10 kilograms of explosive materials. The belt was hidden under the mattress of the stretcher on which one of the children lay.

Nidal Abd al Fatah Abdallah Nazal, another ambulance driver from Qalqilya, working for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), was arrested in August 2002 by the IDF. He too admitted to using the ambulance to transport weapons and explosives for Hamas.

Waffa Idris, who committed the suicide terror attack on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem in January 2002, was a PRC employee. She was dispatched by a PRC ambulance driver who is also a Tanzim operative, and she was assisted by another PRC employee. It is also believed she may have traveled in a PRC vehicle, and used PRC documents to go through IDF checkpoints.

In its 2005 report, the Israeli ministry of Justice stated that “here have been many other incidents in which Palestinian terror organizations abused the privileged status of ambulances.…also abundant evidence that terrorists operate from within hospitals and health clinics; that terrorist organizations recruit PRC employees; and that wanted terrorists frequently travel in Palestinian ambulances to escape capture. In light of these Palestinian practices, the IDF is forced to stop and search ambulances, which unavoidably results in impacting the Palestinian population, despite the IDF's efforts to minimize the disruption caused.”

The Israeli Supreme Court ruled that although international law mandates safeguarding the neutrality of ambulances, it has also long recognizes that when ambulances and medical transport are used for military purposes, they no longer keep their special protected status. The Court ruled that thw IDF must adhere to humantiarian law, and it has done so, and thus rejected a petition by Physicians for Human Rights protesting the IDF's searching of ambulances during Operation Defensive Shield.

Attacks on convoys and road network

Attacks on journalists and media

By 27 July, the international journalists' representative body, Reporters without Borders, reported that, to its knowledge, the IDF had;

• killed a Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) technician during a strike against transmitting equipment in the Satka area of Beirut,
• reduced the premises of Al Manar, Hezbollah's TV station, to ruins, injuring three,
• inflicted injuries on a three-member New TV crew within Lebanon, and
• killed a young woman photographer, Layal Nagib, near Tyre.

The IDF contend that the Al-Manar TV facilities which they bombed represent the propaganda arm of Hezbollah and were a legitimate target for the IDF military. Reporters Without Borders disputes this saying that the station "cannot be viewed as military" target. A statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry read: "The Al-Manar station has for many years served as the main tool for propaganda and incitement by Hezbollah, and has also helped the organization recruit people into its ranks.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists responded to the statement by saying: "While Al-Manar may serve a propaganda function for Hezbollah, it does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function".

Attacks on homes

This is not a comprehensive listing:

• On 1 August it was reported that around 250 properties had been hit by IDF air strikes in the Baalbek area. The BBC described many of the homes as having "no apparent connection with Hezbollah" although the Associated Press described the targets as "suspected Hezbollah positions."

• On 2 August, during the same day that the IDF captured five Hezbollah guerrillas in the Baalbek area, at least 12 people were killed in an air strike on the nearby village of Jammaliyeh. An IDF missile hit the home of the village's mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, killing his son Ali, and six other relatives. The mayor, a reported political opponent of Hezbollah, survived the attack and witnesses said the building had apparently been attacked "randomly".
• On 6 August it was reported that a total of "2,000 bombs" had been dropped on the town of Aytarun by the IDF almost destroying it completely.
• According to the Lebanese Health Minister, on 7 August at least 50 civilians were killed and eleven missing after after an IAF missile "destroyed one residential building and damaged several others in the Shiyyah district of Beirut's southern suburbs." The initial toll of wounded was put at sixty.

• Also on 7 August the IAF targetted a building in Ghaziyeh. The attack killed fourteen civilians. The next day on 8 August a further attack on Ghaziyeh against a building which the IDF claimed housed a Hezbollah member took place during the funeral of the previous day victims and killed a further one civilians. Forty minutes after this the IDF struck again and killed twelve other civilians in three seperate bombings. A total of twenty-nine civilians. Further information: 2006 Ghaziyeh airstrikes

• An Israeli expert said: 'If we have such good information in Lebanon, how come we still don't know the hideout of missiles and launchers?... If we don't know the location of their weapons, why should we know which house is a Hizbollah house?'

The number of homes destroyed by the IDF was estimated by Hezbollah to be over 15,000 completely destroyed and many more damaged. Other estimates were of 10,000 homes in need rebuilding or repairing.

Advance warnings criticized

The Israeli drops of leaflets before bombings have come under criticism for being used as an excuse to kill citizens who didn't leave. According to Human Rights Watch, "in Qana and other villages in southern Lebanon, thousands of residents have been unable to leave the area because they are sick, wounded, do not have the means to leave or they fear Israeli attacks on vehicles" .

The International Committee of the Red Cross said in a 30 July statement on the IDF's attack on Qana, "Issuing advance warning to the civilian population of impending attacks in no way relieves a warring party of its obligations under the rules and principles of international humanitarian law. In particular, the principles of distinction and proportionality must be respected at all times" .

In an opinion column in the International Herald Tribune online, Peter Bouckaert, Senior Emergencies Researcher for Human Rights Watch, went even farther in denouncing the Israeli policy, writing that "In Lebanon ... ime after time, Israel has hit civilian homes and cars in the southern border zone, killing dozens of people with no evidence of any military objective."

On August 6, 2006, The Observer reported that "t least two Israeli fighter pilots have deliberately missed civilian targets in Lebanon as disquiet grows in the military about flawed intelligence," however, this is only based on anecdotal evidence from "a former Blackhawk helicopter pilot dismissed from reserve duty after signing a 'refusnik' letter in 2004."

Attacks on Lebanese industry

Use of phosphorus incendiary bomb

Lebanese President Émile Lahoud issued the claim on July 16 against Israel that forces dropped “phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are a blatant violation of international laws…against Lebanese civilians.” Information Minister Ghazi Aridi also said, "Israel is using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians." Israel has denied President Lahoud and Minister Aridi's claims, and they remain unverified.. As-Safir newspaper also ran a story about alleged use of unknown chemical weapons, citing a member of the "French Association of Cardiovascular Surgeons" .

Jawad Najem, a surgeon at a Tyre hospital, claims that he has treated patients with phosphorus burns. Other doctors in Southern Lebanon also suspect they are seeing phosphorus burns. The Israeli military says it is investigating the claims..

On 24 July Lebanese President Émile Lahoud stated on France's RFI radio:"According to the Geneva Convention, when they use phosphorous bombs and laser bombs, is that allowed against civilians and children?" An IDF spokeswomen replied to the Lahoud's statement by saying, "Everything the Israeli Defense Forces are using is legitimate"

Amnesty International also warned against "reports that Israel has used incendiary weapons, such as white phosphorous shells" It precised that:

"Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons of the UN Convention on the Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons prohibits the use of such weapons against civilians. And it prohibits making any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by incendiary weapons."

Neither Israel nor Lebanon are a party to the Protocol, its violation by either thus of only political but not legal consequence.

Use of depleted uranium munitions in civilian areas

Amnesty International criticized the use of depleted uranium warheads eg. GBU-28 "Bunker Buster" munitions and amour piercing artillery and Sabot shells, because of its indiscriminate nature and toxic legacy of contamination. The Jerusalem Post reported that GBU-28 "bunker buster" munitions are in use by the IDF against civilian infrastructure which the IDF claim houses Hezbollah.

DU weapons have been cited in some studies as contributing factors in Gulf War syndrome and increases in birth defects amongst residents within contaminated areas- the issue of DU use has also been raised by the Lebanese Government in the past.

Targeting by Hezbollah

Hezbollah has fired rockets, sometimes at a rate of more than 150 per day, at civilian targets throughout the conflict. These have landed in all major cities of northern Israel including Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nahariya, Safed, Afula Kiryat Shmona, Karmiel, and Maalot, and dozens of kibbutzim, moshavim, and Druze and Arab villages. Hezbollah rocket attacks are responsible for all 41 civilian Israeli fatalities in the ongoing conflict, in addition to 12 military fatalities. Because of the bombings by Hezbollah of Israel's northern cities, there is now a large displaced Israeli citizen population within Israel. "Israeli officials have estimated the number of displaced northern Israelis at 300,000 since the fighting began" on 12 July. Many of the displaced Israelis are staying in Israel's southern most city, Eilat, where hotels are overbooked. Therefore some are forced to camp out on the beach. Other families are staying in university dormitories in larger cities such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem or in guests houses in kibbutzim south of Haifa. On 02 August figures of 200 - 300 rockets aimed at fifteen targets inside Israel were reported.

Hezbollah's position

Referring to the two day period immediately after the capture of the two IDF soldiers and the IDF response, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah stated: "In the beginning, we started to act calmly, we focused on Israel military bases and we didn't attack any settlement". Since the first day, the enemy attacked Lebanese towns and murdered civilians … Hezbollah militants had destroyed military bases, while the Israelis killed civilians and targeted Lebanon's infrastructure." However, the Hezbollah attack that initiated the conflict has already involved rocket firing on the Israeli the towns of Even Menahem and Mattat, injuring 5 civilians. . Four civilians were killed over the next two days.

Some Hezbollah statements suggest intentions of deliberately targetting civilians. On July 24 Hossein Safiadeen, Hezbollah envoy to Iran, told a conference that included the Tehran-based representative of the Palestinian group Hamas and the ambassadors from Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian Authority "We are going to make Israel not safe for Israelis". He further outlined his organization's strategy of terrorizing Israeli civilians into leaving their country: "We will expand attacks," he said: "The people who came to Israel, (they) moved there to live, not to die. If we continue to attack, they will leave."

Hezbollah's attacks on civilian areas

Rockets fired by Hezbollah also landed and resulted in casualties in the Israeli Arab population. Nasrallah has apologized for the first two Arab fatalities, two brothers aged 3 and 5 in the mixed city of Nazareth.

Human Rights Watch stated on 18 July that

"Hezbollah's attacks were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law."

Human Rights Watch has also noted that

"Hezbollah has launched rockets containing thousands of metal ball bearings towards Israeli towns and cities. Human Rights Watch is of the view that neither weapon should be used in or near civilian areas as a matter of international law, because the wide blast effects of these weapons cannot be directed at military targets without imposing a substantial risk of civilian harm and the weapons cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians. (...) Like cluster munitions, the use of rocket heads filled with metal ball bearings cannot be targeted precisely and are indiscriminate weapons when used in populated areas. Their use in rockets fired into populated areas appears intended to maximize harm to civilians."

Targets of rocket attacks included a post office and two Israeli hospitals, according to the director general of the Israeli Ministry of Health, professor Avi Israeli. Furthermore, at least one raid by Israeli troops on a lauching site in Lebanon had found Nahariya's Ben Zvi general hospital on the operators' target list, complete with accurate bearing and range details. Rockets have also hit many civilian homes, and a cemetery, an event in which 10 Israelis where killed.

Hezbollah's "human shield" tactics

Hezbollah has also been criticized by Israel and UN representatives for what they claim is a Hezbollah attempt to deliberately maximize civilian casualties in Lebanon by using the Lebanese civilian population as "human shields". Upon his visit to Lebanon, United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland accused Hezbollah of “cowardly blending…among women and children. I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.” Hezbollah disputes the claim, indicating that their contact with and proximity to Lebanese civilian centers is routinely minimized as a precaution against infiltration. The "human shield" argument has often been characterized as an attempt to legitimize high civilian death tolls in Lebanon. A Human Rights Watch report released on August 3 said:

"Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack.. In none of the cases of civilian deaths documented in this report is there evidence to suggest that Hezbollah forces or weapons were in or near the area that the IDF targeted during or just prior to the attack."

There have been other reports of Hezbollah using civilians as human shields. The Sunday Herald Sun printed pictures that were smuggled out of Lebanon showing Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. The photographer, a Melbourne man who refused to give his name, stated that he was less than 400 meters from the block when it was obliterated. He said that “Hezbollah came in to launch their rockets, then within minutes the area was blasted by Israeli jets…Until the Hezbollah fighters arrived, it had not been touched by the Israelis. Then it was totally devastated. It was carnage. Two innocent people died in that incident, but it was so lucky it was not more.”

Sonia Verma, of the National Post, reported interviews with Lebanese civilians who accused Hezbollah of using them as human shields. New Republic reporter Annia Ciezadlo reported that Hezbollah kept Shia families in an abandoned underground parking garage in Haret Hreik, bringing them food and water, under the auspices of "keeping them safe from the enemy" but in actual fact preventing their evacuation from a combat zone. While the families were underground, under the impression that the garage somehow provided safety from bombs, Israeli UAVs searched above as armed Hezbollah went about their business just outside the parking garage.

Israeli military spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, further noted that much of the weaponry threatening Israel was deliberately being stored among civilians: “A lot of the rockets are stored in people’s homes in urban areas, fired from within villages and brought in from the Damascus-Beirut highway.” The IDF also claims that Hezbollah militants are preventing or impeding the evacuation of civilians from southern Lebanon despite warnings by Israel to do so, thereby keeping civilians inside the military theatre and exposing them to danger.

According to an article on al arabia and IslamOnline.net Hezbollah fighters tend to wear civilian clothes while being blended within to the civilian populace. Hence, fallen Hezbollah fighters in civilian areas are likely to be accounted as civilians casualties. A hezbollah field commander Hajj Abu Hussein is quoted as saying: "Our people are outfitted as soldiers, but when we are among civilians then we dress normally. When we are in the field, we dress as soldiers". "It's not reasonable to walk around in military uniforms and carry rifles when, for example, the Red Cross comes into town."

Discussing the cease-fire resolutions under debate in the United Nations, the German daily, Financial Times Deutschland wrote that “fter four weeks of war, the highest UN authority will clearly identify the Lebanese terror militia as the aggressor and instigator of the conflict. It’s a good thing if this fact is acknowledged by the international community. The attackers from Hezbollah can ensure that the Lebanese population they have been using as human shields no longer has to suffer…”

Israeli Air Force issued warnings to civilians prior to military actions by way of leaflet droppings to evacuate areas in which it was intending to strike against Hezbollah strongholds. These leaflets indicate where and when it is unsafe to be in a particular area, giving civilian populations time to evacuate despite providing an early warning to the intended target, Hezbollah militants. Also, general leaflets explaining Israel's desire not to bring harm to the Lebanese populace have been dropped, asking civilians to "Refrain from being located in places in relation to Hezbollah".

Use of wide dispersal pattern weapons

Of Israel, the Human Rights Watch has said that there is evidence that has Israel used cluster bombs too close to civilians and described them as "unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians" and that "they should never be used in populated areas". Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of using cluster munitions in an attack on Bilda, a Lebanese village, on 19 July which killed 1 civilian and injured 12, including seven children. The Israeli ambassador to Moscow dismissed the reports as "Hezbollah propaganda".

Of Hezbollah, Human Rights Watch has said: "Hezbollah has launched rockets toward Haifa that contained thousands of metal ball bearings. Human Rights Watch is of the view that neither weapon should be used in or near civilian areas as a matter of international law"

Opinions on civilian attacks

Criticism has been directed at both sides for the heavy toll to civilians in both Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah has been condemned for its alleged deliberate use of Lebanese civilians as “human shields",acting specifically from heavily populated areas and blending with the civilian population. On 23 July 2006, upon a visit to Lebanon, U.N. Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland criticized Hezbollah for this tactic, stating, "Consistently, from the Hezbollah heartland, my message was that Hezbollah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children… I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men.

Jonathan Cook has addressed Egeland's criticism, saying that Hezbollah’s fighters are not aliens recently arrived from training camps in Iran. They belong to and are strongly supported by the Shiite community, nearly half the country’s population, and many other Lebanese. So the Hezbollah militias live beside other civilians and do not hide there. Contrary to both arguments, Mitch Prothero, writing on Salon.com, has argued that "My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters -- as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers -- avoid civilians. Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators -- as so many Palestinian militants have been." He proceeds to note that the targeting of civilian facilities may be the result of liberal definitions within the Israeli military as to what constitutes a Hezbollah target; Hezbollah's civilian wing is Lebanon's second largest employer, and its facilities include hospitals and schools, among other non-military assets. While employees may be on the Hezbollah payroll, they are not often if ever participants in or knowledgeable about Hezbollah military activity.

Still others, however, have cited the fact that the IDF informed and urged Lebanese civilians to evacuate areas in which Hezbollah's infrastructure was being targeted. The New York Times noted that "Israel has been careful to drop leaflets warning civilians in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon where it knows that Hezbollah keeps stores of rockets and launchers in apartment houses, garages and homes."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the war on Lebanon as part of "birth pangs of a new Middle East" and urged Israel to ignore calls for a ceasefire because it would be a "false promise if it simply returns us to the status quo."

In response to American support and Israel's military tactics, Kim Howells, British Foreign Office minister, said in an interview with CNN, "I hope that the Americans understand what's happening to Lebanon: the destruction of the infrastructure, the death of so many children, and so many people. These have not been surgical strikes, and it's very, very difficult I think to understand the kind of military tactics that have been used. You know if they're chasing Hezbollah, well go for Hezbollah. You don't go for the entire Lebanese nation, and that's the difference."

Charges of human rights violations have been directed at both Hezbollah and Israel. For instance, Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has warned that Israel may be breaking international law and committing war crimes if it does not do more to protect civilians. "Indiscriminate shelling of cities constitutes a foreseeable and unacceptable targeting of civilians... Similarly, the bombardment of sites with alleged military significance, but resulting invariably in the killing of innocent civilians, is unjustifiable", said Arbour.

Others point out that Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention makes it clear that “he presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.” Further, Article 29 states that “he Party to the conflict in whose hands protected persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility which may be incurred.” Therefore, the argument has been made that under international law, Hezbollah would be responsible for any civilian deaths caused by Israel, so long as Israel is aiming at military targets.

Use of prohibited weapons

Human Rights Watch criticized Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli civilian areas on 18 July, in part because "the warheads used suggest a desire to maximize harm to civilians. Some of the rockets launched against Haifa over the past two days contained hundreds of metal ball bearings that are of limited use against military targets but cause great harm to civilians and civilian property. The ball bearings lodge in the body and cause serious harm." Such warheads are banned by international laws; Human Rights Watch describes the Hezbollah warheads as "serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes". According to Israeli sources, the ball bearings in the warheads are "capable of piercing a steel door".

Lebanese President Émile Lahoud claimed Israeli forces have dropped "phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are a blatant violation of international laws ... against Lebanese civilians". Jawad Najem, a surgeon at a Tyre hospital, claims that he has treated patients with phosphorus burns. Other doctors in Southern Lebanon also suspect they are seeing phosphorus burns. The Israeli military says it is investigating the claims, even though neither Israel nor Lebanon have ever signed up to the Protocol III of the Geneva Conventions banning incediary munitions, and thus can legally use the weapon.

References

1. "US 'outrage' over Israeli claims". BBC News. 2006-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
2. "UN humanitarian chief blasts Hizbullah". Jerusalem Post. 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
3. "U.N. Exec Blames Hezbollah for Deaths". Forbes. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "UN warning on Mid-East war crimes". BBC. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
5. "Toll Rises in Middle East". New York Times. 2006-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "'Is this the price to pay?' Lebanese PM asks". CBC. 2006-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "UN: Security Council must adopt urgent measures to protect civilians in Israel-Lebanon conflict". Amnesty International.
8. Robert Fisk "Entire Lebanese family killed in Israeli attack on hospital". The Independent. 2006-08-03. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. "Howard says Lebanon evacuation possible by ferry". ABC. 2006-07-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
10. "UAE aid truck bombed by Israel". Gulfnews. 2006-07-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "Israel hits Lebanon telecoms, plans more incursions". Reuters. 2006-07-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. "By the numbers: heavy damage to infrastructure". FT.com. 2006-07-18. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. "Mayhem in middle east: it gets worse". The Daily Mirror. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. UN official accuses Hezbollah of 'cowardly blending' among civilians, Haaretz, 2006-07-25
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18. "'Their bodies litter the road'". BBC News. July 15, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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21. "Morning Edition". NPR. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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23. Q&A: Mid-East war crimes?
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27. ZeeNews, Qana death toll revised to 28: Lebanese hospital officials
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31. Fighting inside Lebanese border — BBC News, Thursday, 20 July 2006
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35. "9 IDF troops killed in day of fighting". Ynet. 2006-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
36. Truce rejected as Rice heads to Mideast, Perth Now, 2006-07-29
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38. Our aim is to win – nothing is safe, Israeli chiefs declare, OneWorld US, 14 July, 2006
39. "New Yorkers Rally For Israel". The Jewish Press. July 19, 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
40. "Tel Aviv to halt air offensive for 48 hours". Washington Times. July 31, 2006. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
41. More aid pledged to Lebanon as UN calls Hezbollah cowards, Ya Libnan, 24 July, 2006
42. "'10 buildings for each rocket'". Aljazeera/AFP. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
43. "Israel to Bomb 10 Residential Blocks for Each Rocket Attack Against Haifa". Focus News Agency. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
44. High-ranking officer: Halutz ordered retaliation policy, Jerusalem Post, 24 July, 2006.
45. IAF destroys 10 buildings in Beirut, Jerusalem Post, 24 July, 2006
46. High-ranking officer: Halutz ordered retaliation policy, Jerusalem Post, 24 July, 2006.
47. de Quetteville, Harry (July 28, 2006). "You're all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in South". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
48. "'IDF may be morally justified in flattening terror strongholds'". Jerusalem Post. 2006-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
49. Olmert tells Europe to stop preaching to Israel, Reuters, 6 August, 2006
50. The Crisis in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch report.
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52. "LEBANON: Aid agencies hampered by Israeli strikes". Reuters. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
53. "Paula Zahn Now". CNN. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
54. "Lebanon/Israel - ICRC Bulletin 03/2006". ICRC. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
55. Martin Chulov, Civilians killed as Israelis target ambulances, The Australian, 26 July, 2006
56. Megan Stack, Agonies anew for team on the side of the angels, The Age, 26 July, 2006
57. Ulrike Putz, Lebanese Victims: Please Don't Ask any more Questions, Der Spiegel, 25 July, 2006
58. "Aid Workers Frustrated Over Lack Of Access In Lebanon". AP. 2006-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
59. "Israeli warplanes plunge Tyre into darkness". 2006-08-11. Retrieved 2006-08-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
60. "Lebanon – Israel: ICRC deplores increasing number of civilian casualties and lack of respect for medical mission". 2006-08-11. Retrieved 2006-08-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
61. ^ The Department for International Agreements and International Litigation (April 7, 2006). "Human Rights Issues for the Palestinian population - April 2005". Ministry of Justice, State of Israel. Retrieved 2006-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
62. The Israeli Supreme Court sitting as the High Court of Justice (April 8, 2002). "Physicians for Human Rights v. The Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank and Badia Ra'ik Suabuta v. The Commander of the IDF Forces in the West Bank" (Template:PDFlink). Supreme Court of Israel. Retrieved 2006-08-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
63. ^ Glantz, Aaron (July 15, 2006). "Lebanon: 7 Media Workers Injured in 48 Hours of Fighting". OneWorld.net. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
64. "Reporters Without Borders in Beirut to express solidarity with Lebanese media". Reporters without Borders. 2006-07-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
65. Ibid.
66. "Hezbollah is unbowed in Baalbek". BBC. 2006-08-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
67. Hendawi, Hamza. "Israel ground forces intensify attacks, air war resumes despite two-day pause." The Associated Press. 1 August 2006. 11 August 2006. LexisNexis Academic.
68. "190 Hizbullah rockets hit Israel". 2006-08-02. Retrieved 2006-08-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
69. Bayhan, Kursat. "Israeli Warplanes Drop 2,000 Bombs on 1 Village." Zaman.com. 6 August 2006. 11 August 2006.
70. ""Death toll rises to 30 in Monday raid on Beirut." Reuters. 8 August 2006. 11 August 2006.
71. "Angry Shi'ites bury the dead after Beirut attack, August 9, 2006"
72. "'Hot air pushed me off my chair. I was on the ground. I thought I was dead' , August 11, 2006"
73. Gilmore, Inigo. "Israeli pilots 'deliberately miss' targets." The Observer. 6 August 2006. 12 August 2006.
74. "Reconstruction alone estimated at $7bn in Lebanon". Guardian. 2006-08-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
75. "Lebanon/Israel: IDF Fails to Explain Qana Bombing". HRW. 2006-08-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
76. "Lebanon/Israel: ICRC alarmed by high number of civilian casualties and disrespect for international humanitarian law". 2006-07-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
77. Bouckaert, Peter. "For Israel, innocent civilians are fair game." International Herald Tribune. 3 August 2006. 11 August 2006.
78. Gilmore, Inigo. "Israeli pilots 'deliberately miss' targets." The Observer. 6 August 2006. 12 August 2006.
79. ^ "Lebanon under Israeli attack: Sunday Roundup". Daily Star (registration required). July 16, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "DailyStarGeneva" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
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81. "Updated report on the war in Lebanon — Day 8". Ya Libnan. 2006-07-19. Retrieved 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
82. "Israel uses banned weapons against Lebanese civilians". Aljazeera. 2006-07-17. Retrieved 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
83. "Israel, Lebanon Wage War Of Words". CBS News. 2006-07-16. Retrieved 2006-07-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
84. "Israeli Aggression on Lebanon", July 19 and 21, 2006, in As-Safir, Retrieved on 2006-08-03.
85. "Israel urged to shun cluster bomb". BBC. 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
86. "Lebanon president says Israel uses phosphorous arms". Reuters. 2006-07-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
87. "ISRAEL/LEBANON: ISRAEL AND HIZBULLAH MUST SPARE CIVILIANS". Amnesty International. July 27, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
88. "Obligations under international humanitarian law of the parties to the conflict in Israel and Lebanon". Amnesty International. 2006-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
89. "Hezbollah chain of command still intact". Jerusalem Post. 2006-07-15. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
90. "Lebanon to Present Files to UN on Israel's Use of DU Weapons". Peoples Daily China. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
91. "Hizbullah attacks northern Israel and Israel's response". MFA. 2006-07-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
92. ^ Kraft, Dina (July 31, 2006). "Israelis rally to aid displaced". International Herald Tribune. p. 4. Retrieved 2006-08-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
93. Major Attacks in Lebanon, Israel and the Gaza Strip, New York Times
94. Greenberg, Hannan (July 14, 2006). "Woman, grandson killed in Meron rocket attack". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2006-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
95. "Anxious northern Israel endures rocket fire". CNN. {{cite news}}: Text "date2006-07-14" ignored (help)
96. "Katyusha rockets hit Galilee". Ynetnews. 2006-07-13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
97. "Northern Israel under attack; missile fired at Haifa". Ynetnews. 2006-07-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
98. "Israel-Hizbullah conflict: Victims of rocket attacks and IDF casualties". MFA. 2006-07-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
99. "Hizbullah leader promises enemy 'more surprises'".
100. "Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border". Haaretz. 2006-07-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
101. "Hezbollah envoy: War on Israel to widen". Associated Press. July 24 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
102. "Rocket kills two boys in Nazareth". AP. 2006-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
103. "Hezbollah leader apologizes for attack's child victims". CNN. 2006-07-21. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
104. "Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah". Human Rights Watch. 2006-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
105. Tanks storm across Lebanon border, Daily Mail, 2006-07-23
106. Hezbollah rockets pound northern Israel, CNN, 2006-08-06
107. Associated Press (July 25, 2006). "UN humanitarian chief blasts Hizbullah". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
108. Frayer, Lauren (July 24, 2006). "U.N. Exec Blames Hezbollah for Deaths". Forbes. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
110. "Israel/Lebanon: End Indiscriminate Strikes on Civilians". Human Rights Watch. 2006-08-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
111. ^ Link, Chris (July 30, 2006). "Photos that damn Hezbollah". Herald Sun. Retrieved 2006-08-07. THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon's battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia. The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons. Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon. The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
112. Verma, Sonia (August 5, 2006). "Hezbollah's deadly hold on heartland: Loved by many, accused by others of sacrificing civilians". CanWest Interactive. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
113. "Entombed". TNR. 2006-07-20.
114. Krane, Jim (July 20, 2006). "Military Analysts Question Israeli Bombing". ABC News. Retrieved 2006-08-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
115. Greenberg, Hanan (July 18, 2006). "IDF: Hizbullah preventing civilians from leaving villages in southern Lebanon". Yedioth Internet. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
116. Crossland, David (August 7, 2006). "Can a UN Resolution on Lebanon Work?". The World from Berlin. Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
117. "With Israeli Use of Force, Debate Over Proportion". New York Times. 2006-07-19. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
118. "Israel Leaflets Warning to the Lebanese People".
119. "Hundred Thousand New warning leaflets dropped on downtown Beirut".
120. "Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon". HRW. 2006-07-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
121. "Middle East: Rice Calls For A 'New Middle East'". Radio Free Europe. 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
122. "Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Dismisses Use of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon as "Hezbollah Propaganda"". MOSNews.com. 2006-07-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
123. "Questions and Answers on Hostilities Between Israel and Hezbollah". Human Rights Watch. 2006-07-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
128. "CNN International Live". CNN. 2006-07-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
129. "UN warning on Mid-East war crimes". BBC News. 2006-07-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
130. Remba, Gideon D. (July 21, 2006). "Are Israel's Military Operations in Lebanon Proportional?Is Israel Guilty of War Crimes? What International Law Really Says". Zionism-Israel Information Center. Retrieved 2006-08-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
131. ^ "Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians". HRW. July 18, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
132. "ISRAEL, HEZBOLLAH TRADE FIERCE ROCKET ATTACKS; PANIC IN HAIFA: Residents run for cover as explosions, sirens sound in worst-hit Israeli city". San Francisco Chronicle. 2006-07-17.
133. "Israel urged to shun cluster bomb". BBC. 2006-07-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
134. "Israel, Lebanon Wage War Of Words". CBS News. 2006-07-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

• Cases before the International Criminal Court#Lebanon
• 2006 Qana airstrike
• 2006 al-Qaa airstrike
• 2006 Shiyyah airstrike
• 2006 Ghaziyeh airstrikes
• 2006 Marjayoun convoy

External links

Front-line photographs

Warning: Extremely graphic wartime imagery

• Photographs of the Lebanese Civilian Casualties (Children) Inflicted By Israel — Photographs of civilian deaths and infrastructure damage
• CNN Photographs of the Israel Airstrike on Qana — Graphic photographs of Lebanese civilian casualties at the 2006 Qana airstrike
• Google map of Haret Hreik — Satellite photograph of the Haret Hreik neighborhood in the Dahieh district of Beirut, Lebanon, before Israeli airstrikes.
• DigitalGlobe photograph of Haret Hreik — Satellite photograph of the Haret Hreik neighborhood, 22 July 2006.
• From Israel To Lebanon — Photographs of Lebanese civilian targets and casualties.
• Images of war in Israel — Graphic photographs of Israeli military and civilian casualties.

Pictures:

• http://www.bubbleshare.com/album/47671/1356651/thumbnails
• http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/07/you-will-know-them-by-their-fruit.html
• http://wakeupfromyourslumber.blogspot.com/2006/07/qana-massacre.html

1. "ISRAELI AIR ATTACK KILLS CIVILIANS". CNN. 2006-07-30. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Battles of Israel
• Hezbollah
• History of Israel
• History of Lebanon
• War crimes