In October, the Syrian army denied it was using cluster bombs in its battle with rebels.
In October, Syrian armed forces denied the possession or use of cluster bombs.
The Pentagon says that, in some cases, big single-target bombs can cause even more unintended damage than cluster bombs.
ECONOMIST: Landmines and cluster bombs: Nothing's perfect | The
These can hold up to 84, 500 lb (227 kg) bombs, or 30 cluster bombs, or 24 JDAM guided bombs.
And while mines are dangerous because they are invisible, volatile cluster bombs are deadly because they lie in plain sight.
Mr. SHADID: The Israeli officials have made the point that cluster bombs are not banned under international law, which is correct.
Bomblets are individual units of cluster bombs and are made of metal.
The argument about cluster bombs adds to the angry complaints about landmines.
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And Israeli officials have been somewhat tightlipped on what the strategy was and what their sense of the use of the cluster bombs was.
We have been told that amongst the kinds of ammunition being fired from these huge guns are effectively cluster bombs, called L20 bomblet rounds.
The one statement that they've used several times about the use of the cluster bombs that they were fired within the parameters of international agreement.
"Whenever we touched his leg, he was in tremendous pain, " says orthopedic specialist, Bassam Singer, who is working to help the victims of cluster bombs recover a semblance of normalcy.
Cluster bombs themselves are not banned under international agreement.
For example, one company widely mentioned as a potential target of activists is Textron, the Providence, Rhode Island-based industrial conglomerate that builds everything from the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor to smart cluster bombs.
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Their understanding and their estimate is that as many as 90 percent of these cluster bombs were fired in the last 72 hours of the conflict, the last three days of the conflict.
Mr. SHADID: You know, it's not too strong of a word, I think, to use like dumbfounded when you ask U.N. officials what happened and what the situation is on the ground with the cluster bombs right now.
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