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Hezbollah rocket attacks are “probable” war crimes: rights group
WASHINGTON - Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel with imprecise rockets in civilian areas violated international humanitarian law and most likely constituted “war crimes.” The attacks Sunday and Monday were “at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians,” the New York-based group said in a statement. “Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes,” it said.
Ok, my surprise meter is working after all.
Some of the rockets launched against Haifa contain hundreds of metal ball bearings and were of little military use but could cause serious harm to civilians, the group wrote. “Attacking civilian areas indiscriminately is a serious violation of international humanitarian law and can constitute a war crime,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the group’s Middle East and North Africa division. “Hezbollah’s use of warheads that have limited military use and cause grievous suffering to the victims only makes the crime worse.”

International humanitarian law prohibits warring parties using weapons in civilian areas that are so inaccurate that they cannot be directed at military targets without a substantial risk of causing harm to civilians, Human Rights Watch said. The group has urged both Hezbollah and Israel to respect the prohibition against targeting civilians or conducting indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas. Human Rights Watch on Monday called on the Israeli government to divulge details about a bombing over the weekend that reportedly killed 16 civilians in a convoy near the village of Marwahin.
Posted by: Steve 2006-07-18
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=159929