25 Aug 2006 01:08:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
FEATURE-Cluster bombs lie in wait for Lebanese children
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent
BINT JBEIL, Lebanon, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Like a small black football, it lies in the dirt not far from Haitham Daaboul’s front door in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.
It looks innocuous, but a careless kick from a passing child would detonate this cluster bomb, one of thousands of unexploded devices Israel scattered over the towns, villages and hillsides of south Lebanon during its 34-day war with Hizbollah fighters.
The bomblets can maim or kill. In war time, they might hit guerrillas firing rockets. Now with a shaky truce in force, they lie where they fell, creating random minefields over wide areas.
“We can’t let the children go outside. There are many cluster bombs in the streets,” said Daaboul’s wife Nadia.
“We’ve told them to be frightened of things shaped like a ball, a plate, anything, even stones in the street,” she said.
“It’s a real pain. The children are asking ‘how can we live like this? When can we go out? When can we have a normal life?'” [MORE]