Iran’s Cluster Bomb Attacks on Israeli Civilian Areas Could Constitute War Crimes, Experts Say

Iran’s use of cluster bombs against Israeli civilians could constitute war crimes, experts have told The New York Sun. An Israeli military official told the Sun that roughly 50 percent of Iranian missiles fired toward Israel during the war have carried cluster warheads that disperse into smaller bombs in the air, creating additional falling debris hazards. Two civilians were killed in cluster bomb attacks in the city of Yehud in central Israel this week, which lies adjacent to Israel’s International Airport and 4-5 km from the seemingly nearest IDF base. Retired master sergeant and former special operations tactical air controller in the elite special warfare branch of the U.S. Air Force, Wes J. Bryant, told the Sun that cluster bombs are not “expressedly prohibited by customary international law,” and neither America, Iran or Israel are signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (2008). But all three parties are signatories to the Geneva Conventions where the concept of discrimination, or distinction, between lawful combatants and noncombatants/civilian population, is key.When asked if the cluster bomb attacks in the city of Yehud were lawful due to a military base some five kilometers (three miles) away, Mr. Bryant said that the chances of Iran “missing” the army base target is “highly improbable” as Iranian long-range missiles “all have some form of guidance, and the error probability known for their systems ranges from a few meters to under one kilometer.”“So a miss of five kilometers is highly improbable. This is likely either targeting recklessness, at a minimum, or full intentionality to hit civilians,” Mr. Bryant said. Retired U.S. Marine Corps special operations capabilities specialist, Jonathan W. Hackett, echoed Mr. Bryant’s assessment, telling the Sun that it is up to Iran to provide an explanation as to why cluster bombs were used against Israel to justify the attacks that killed civilians. Citing the Law of Armed Conflict, Mr. Hackett described how distinction, proportionality, and military necessity have to be taken into consideration when an attack that kills civilians is assessed. “Iran did not distinguish between civilian and military targets, evidenced by striking civilian infrastructure and residences. Cluster munitions would make sense under proportionality if the intended target was on balance consistent with Israeli military activities already conducted against Iran,” Mr. Hackett said. “Israel is not known to have used cluster munitions in this conflict, nor has Israel clearly struck civilian targets in Iran, so here proportionality was not met. Cluster munitions are largely designed to be used against fixed land targets like troops, tanks, and other ground force elements. None of these forces are currently operating near or in Iran, so military necessity is not met as these specific targets did not pose an imminent threat to Iran,” he added. And with no explanation from Iran as to why cluster bombs targeted the city of Yehud where two civilians were killed, Mr. Hackett said we can only go by what we know to assess whether it was lawful or not.“Iran struck a civilian area five kilometers from a base in a manner that was neither distinct, proportional, nor militarily necessary. Therefore, without further explanation or evidence, Iran likely violated international humanitarian law by using these munitions against the targets they struck,” he concluded. Mr. Bryant said there is also prohibition against area bombardment: “If Iran is using a large warhead that spreads dozens or more bomblets out from a high altitude over a large civilian area and with no recognizable military advantage —that would surely constitute a war crime.”If Iran were to argue the lawfulness of their attack Mr. Hackett listed a number of reasons, such as jamming interfered with guidance systems, the missiles were defective, anti-air defense systems interfered with the missile’s trajectory, or that defective guidance systems caused targeting to fail. “But the burden would be on Iran to present and prove such claims,” Mr. Hackett said. Iran has not provided any explanation for the attack in Yehud or other areas in Israel hit by cluster bombs. Both Mr. Bryant and Mr. Hackett explained that the use of cluster bombs can make sense in certain areas of conflict, depending on the context and nature of the target. Mr. Bryant, who is also a former senior targeting advisor and policy analyst at the Pentagon where he led as the branch chief of civilian harm assessments, said the cluster bombs are “made to be employed against large concentrations of enemy troops or armored vehicles, weaponry, even infrastructure depending on the warhead/munition.”“In that context, they are not indiscriminate, when used against distinguished military targets and enemy forces,” he said, adding that the U.S. targeting doctrine and policy “limits the use of cluster munitions within dense urban populations or otherwise around civilian populations.”Mr. Hackett said that weapons designed for area targets “often must sacrifice accuracy for strike spread. Cluster munitions may overwhelm missile defenses, but the further they are from their terminal phase, the closer together they are and the less effective they would be in frustrating missile defenses.”

Iran’s Cluster Bomb Attacks on Israeli Civilian Areas Could Constitute War Crimes, Experts Say

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