Matching an earlier condemnation of Israel, Amnesty International yesterday accused Hezbollah forces of war crimes and "serious violations of international humanitarian law" during the Lebanon war, including indiscriminate rocket attacks and "deliberate attacks on civilians."
On Aug. 23, the group criticized Israel's behavior, saying its bombing campaign amounted to indiscriminate attacks on Lebanon's civilian installations and population.
In a 15-page report issued yesterday, Amnesty International said its assessment of Hezbollah was based on "firsthand information from visits to Israel and Lebanon, interviews with dozens of victims, official statements, discussions with Israeli and Lebanese military and government officials, as well as senior Hezbollah officials, information from non-government groups and media reports."
The report specifically ruled out any assessment of Israeli accusations that Hezbollah "used the civilian population as a cover for its military activities" and "must therefore be held responsible for the harm caused to civilians by Israeli attacks."
But it quoted Hezbollah officials as denying accusations that they had endangered civilians or launched Katyusha missile attacks on Israel from populated areas. The Hezbollah officials, however, "acknowledge that other weapons and facilities are present in towns and villages, and argue that they are needed for their fighters to defend their communities against Israeli attacks," the Amnesty report said.
It cited Israeli figures saying Hezbollah had fired 3,970 rockets into Israel between July 12 and Aug. 14, 901 of them at urban areas.
"Those fired included rockets with warheads packed with thousands of metal ball bearings intended to maximize harm to people," the report said. "Once the rockets struck, the ball bearings sprayed out, inflicting death and injury for 300 meters or more if in the open."
The rockets killed 43 civilians, seven of them children, the report said, and 4,262 civilians were treated in hospitals.
Twelve Israeli soldiers also died in a single rocket strike, the report said.
Hussein Rahal, head of Hezbollah's information bureau, said late on Wednesday that Hezbollah was aware of the Amnesty report but that officials had not yet read it and would not comment until they had.
Israel did not immediately comment on the report.
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