The conflict killed over 1,500 people, most of whom were Lebanese civilians, severely damaged Lebanese infrastructure, displaced about 900,000 Lebanese and 300,000 Israelis and disrupted normal life across all of Lebanon and northern Israel. The high number of civilian deaths in the conflict has been one of its most controversial aspects. Around 1,100 civilians. Almost one third of the Lebanese civilian casualties were children under 13 years of age.
The United Nations Development Programme estimated that about 35.000 homes and businesses in Lebanon were destroyed by Israel in the conflict, to add to more than 130.000 damaged houses. The systematic targeting of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure includes 400 miles of roads, 73 bridges and 31 targets such as Beirut International Airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, up to 350 schools and two hospitals were destroyed. It was estimated that overall economic losses for Lebanon from the month-long conflict between Israel and Hezbollah totalled at least $15 billion, if not more.
Various agencies have criticised both Israel and Hezbollah. Amnesty International condemned both Hezbollah and Israel for attacks on civilians, in addition to the confirmed use of white phosphorus by the Israeli Defence Forces and published a report suggesting that the attacks on civilian property were a deliberate part of the Israeli military strategy, rather than collateral damage. Human Rights Watch condemned the indiscriminate use of force against civilians by both Israel and Hezbollah. They blamed Israel for systematically failing to distinguish between combatants and civilians, which may constitute a war crime.
The United Nations has criticised Israel for it’s use of cluster munitions and disproportionate attacks. Cluster bombs are a menace to civilians even if not directly aimed at them for two reasons: they have a very wide area of effect, and they always leave behind unexploded sub munitions. The area covered by a single cluster carrier emission, also known as the footprint, can be as large as two or three football fields. A basic cluster bomb can contain anywhere from three to more than 2,000 sub munitions.
The other serious problem is unexploded ordinance (UXO) of cluster sub munitions left behind after a strike. The surviving sub munitions are live and can explode when handled, making them a serious threat to civilians, long after they have fallen to the ground. This way, the UXOs can function exactly like land mines.
In Lebanon as many as 70% of the sub munitions dropped may not have detonated, because of the old batches of production which they belong to. The evidence of this is being traced by U.S. congress attorneys through the carrier shells’ serial numbers. More than a dozen people have been killed and around 100 civilians were injured by unexploded sub munitions since the August 14th ceasefire.
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