Region | Lebanon
Tel Aviv asks US to rush ammunition delivery
Israel has asked the Bush administration to hasten delivery of short-range anti-personnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, the New York Times reported on Friday.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 August 12, 2006
Washington: Israel has asked the Bush administration to hasten delivery of short-range anti-personnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, the New York Times reported on Friday.
Sourcing its report to two American officials, the newspaper said the request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly.
But the newspaper said some US State Department officials want to delay approval because the rockets, while likely effective against hidden missile launchers, would also likely cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.
The United States has already approved the sale of the M-26 rockets, but the weapons had not been delivered when the Lebanon crisis erupted.
Israel needs the rockets now, officials said, because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery.
The shipment might be approved along with a directive to Israel that it must be especially careful about firing the rockets into populated areas, a senior official told the paper.
State Department officials "are discussing whether or not there needs to be a block on this sale because of the past history and because of the current circumstances", the senior official was quoted as saying in the Times.
He added that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to "be careful".
The newspaper said the United States maintained a moratorium in the 1980s on selling cluster munitions to Israel, after it learned civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration.
The report noted that the Bush administration has backed Israel's offensive against Hezbollah by rushing arms shipments to the region.
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