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[BEIRUT, 29 August 2007] - A new 128-page report, Civilians Under Assault: Hezbollah's rocket attacks on Israel in the 2006 war, criticises Hezbollah for its conduct during the 2006 war with Israel, in particular for its practice of deliberately and indiscriminately firing rockets toward Israeli civilian areas. During its armed conflict with Israel from 12 July until 14 August 2006, Hezbollah claimed at various times that its rockets were aimed primarily at military targets in Israel, or that its attacks on civilians were justifiable as a response to Israel’s indiscriminate fire into southern Lebanon and as a tool to draw Israel into a ground war. In fact, the former claim is refuted by the large number of rockets that hit civilian objects far removed from any military targets, whereas the latter arguments are inadmissible under international humanitarian law. Hezbollah forces in Lebanon fired thousands of rockets into Israel, causing civilian casualties and damage to civilian structures. Hezbollah’s means of attack relied on unguided weapons that had no capacity to hit military targets with any precision. It repeatedly bombarded cities, towns, and villages without any apparent effort to distinguish between civilians and military objectives. In doing so, Hezbollah, as a party to an armed conflict governed by international humanitarian law, violated fundamental prohibitions against deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians. This report focuses on Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israel. It is based on on-site research and a review of documentary evidence. Human Rights Watch (HRW) have addressed other aspects of the conflict - including violations by Israel in its conduct of hostilities—in other reports. HRW addresses additional aspects of the conflict, including allegations that Hezbollah repeatedly used civilian “shields,” in a forthcoming report, Accounting for the Dead: Civilian Deaths in Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War. At all times, HRW seek to measure each party’s compliance with its obligations under the laws of war, rather than measure it against the conduct of the other party. To criticise one party for violating international humanitarian law does not excuse or mitigate the violations committed by the other party. Hezbollah rockets killed 43 civilians and 12 soldiers inside Israel during the course of the 34-day conflict. Thirty-three civilians suffered serious physical injuries, 68 suffered moderate physical injuries, and 1,388 suffered light physical injuries, according to official Israeli statistics. Hospitals also treated 2,773 civilians for shock and anxiety. Rockets killed and injured Israelis in their homes and workplaces, and on the streets of villages and cities. Rockets struck hospitals in Nahariya, Safed, and Mazra, an elementary school in Kiryat Yam, and a post office in Haifa. Such attacks on civilians and civilian structures were often the foreseeable consequence of Hezbollah’s attacks, and, as its statements indicate, were at times intended. Israeli authorities acknowledged that Hezbollah was targeting military objects in northern Israel part of the time. However, citing national security, they have not disclosed details of such attacks or allowed independent monitors to visit those locations. HRW thus cannot say with certainty how often Hezbollah rocket attacks hit military targets or landed in the near vicinity of such targets, or how the number of such attacks compares with the number of rockets that hit civilian areas. However, the legality of attacks under international humanitarian law must be measured attack by attack, so the fact that some attacks may have hit military targets does not in itself justify other attacks that did not. Hezbollah rockets repeatedly hit populated areas in Israel. In some of those cases, HRW could find no evidence there had been a legitimate military target in the vicinity at the time of the attack, suggesting it was a deliberate attack on civilians. In other cases, HRW found that there had been a military object in the vicinity but, even assuming Hezbollah had been intending to hit the military target instead of civilians, the unguided rockets it used was incapable of distinguishing between the two. At the time of attack, Hezbollah also failed to take all feasible precautions to minimise loss of civilian life, such as by issuing “effective advance warning...of attacks which may affect the civilian population.” Based on an assessment of numerous declarations and 89 wartime communiqués issued by Hezbollah about its attacks in Israel, HRW also conclude that, although Hezbollah leaders and spokesmen often expressed support for the principle of sparing civilians on both sides from attack, they both repeatedly threatened to attack Israeli towns and settlements and claimed responsibility for specific attacks on Israeli towns and settlements, alongside the claims they made of hitting specific military targets inside Israel. Hezbollah’s attacks in violation of the laws of war, when combined with such statements indicating criminal intent, is strong evidence that some Hezbollah members and commanders were responsible for war crimes. Further information
pdf: http://hrw.org/reports/2007/iopt0807/iopt0807web.pdf