Background Briefing

III. Timeline of Cluster Munition Use

Cluster munitions have been used in at least 23 countries by at least 13 states. Non-state armed groups (NSAG) have also used cluster munitions in a limited number of cases, most recently by Hezbollah into Israel in July and August 2006.25 A timeline of cluster munition use is presented below.26

Date

Location

Details

1943

USSR

Soviet forces use air-dropped cluster munitions against German armor. German forces use SD-1 and SD-2 butterfly bombs against artillery positions on the Kursk salient.

1943

United Kingdom

German aircraft drop over 1,000 SD-2 butterfly bombs on the port of Grimsby.

1960s-1970s

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam

US forces make extensive use of cluster munitions in bombing campaigns. The ICRC estimates that in Laos alone, 9 to 27 million unexploded submunitions remain. An estimate based on US military databases states that 9,500 sorties in Cambodia delivered up to 87,000 air-dropped cluster munitions.

1973

Syria

Israel uses air-dropped cluster munitions against NSAG training camps near Damascus.

1975-1988

Western Sahara

Moroccan forces use cluster munitions against NSAG.

1978

Lebanon

Israel uses cluster munitions in southern Lebanon.

1979-1989

Afghanistan

Soviet forces use air-dropped and rocket-delivered cluster munitions. NSAG also use rocket-delivered cluster munitions on a smaller scale.

1982

Lebanon

Israel uses cluster munitions against Syrian forces and NSAG in Lebanon.

1982

Falkland Islands (Malvinas)

UK aircraft drop cluster munitions on Argentinean infantry positions near Port Stanley, Port Howard, and Goose Green.

1986

Chad

French air forces air-drop cluster munitions on a Libyan airfield at Wadi Doum.

1991

Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia

The US and its allies (France, Saudi Arabia, UK) drop 61,000 cluster bombs, containing some 20 million submunitions. The number of cluster munitions delivered by surface-launched artillery and rocket systems is not known, but an estimated 30 million or more DPICM submunitions were used in the conflict.

1992-1995

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Forces of Yugoslavia and NSAG use available stocks of cluster munitions during civil war.

1992-1997

Tajikistan

Use by unknown forces in civil war.

1994-1996

Chechnya

Russian forces use cluster munitions against NSAG.

1995

Croatia

On May 2-3, 1995, an NSAG uses Orkan M-87 multiple rocket launchers to attack civilians in Zagreb. Additionally, the Croatian government claimed that Serb forces used BL-755 bombs.

1996-1999

Sudan

Sudanese government forces use air-dropped cluster munitions in southern Sudan.

1997

Sierra Leone

Nigerian ECOMOG peacekeepers use BLG-66 Belouga bombs on the town of Kenema.

1998

Ethiopia / Eritrea

Ethiopia attacks Asmara airport and targets in Gash-Barka province (the latter with BL-755 cluster bombs). Eritrea attacks Mekele airport.

1998-1999

Albania

Yugoslav forces conduct cross-border rocket attacks. NATO carries out six aerial cluster munition strikes.

1999

Yugoslavia (including Kosovo)

The US, UK, and Netherlands drop 1,765 cluster bombs, containing 295,000 bomblets.

2001- 2002

Afghanistan

The US drops 1,228 cluster bombs containing 248,056 bomblets.

2003

Iraq

The US and UK use nearly 13,000 cluster munitions, containing an estimated 1.8 to 2 million submunitions in the three weeks of major combat.

2006

Lebanon

Israeli forces use surface-launched and air-dropped cluster munitions against Hezbollah. The UN estimates that Israel used up to 4 million submunitions.

2006

Israel

Hezbollah fires over 100 Chinese-produced Type-81 122mm cluster munition rockets into northern Israel.

Table 1: Timeline of Cluster Munition Use




25 “Lebanon/Israel: Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions During Conflict,” Human Rights Watch news release, October 19, 2006, http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412.htm.

26 In addition, unconfirmed reports cite use of cluster munitions in Angola, Colombia, Kashmir, Nagorno-Karabakh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and Yemen.