Israel: US weapons used in attack that killed Lebanese aid workers

(Beirut) – An Israeli attack on an emergency and relief center in southern Lebanon on March 27, 2024 was an unlawful attack on civilians that failed to take all necessary precautions, Human Rights Watch said today. If the attack on civilians was carried out intentionally or recklessly, it should be investigated as a clear case war crimes. The attack, which used a US-made Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit and an Israeli-made 500-pound general-purpose bomb (about 230 kilograms), involved seven emergency and relief volunteers from the five kilometer Killed in the northern city of Habbarieh, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The attack targeted a residential building after midnight that housed the emergency and relief corps of the Lebanese Succor Association, a non-governmental humanitarian organization that provides emergency, rescue, first aid training and relief services in Lebanon. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target at the site. Just a week earlier, Israel had reportedly assured the US State Department in writing that US-provided weapons would not be used in violation of international law.

“Israeli forces carried out an attack using a U.S. weapon that killed seven civilian aid workers in Lebanon who were simply doing their jobs,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Israel’s assurance to the United States that it will comply with the… Laws of war Ring hollow. The US must acknowledge reality and cut off Israel’s weapons.”

The United States should immediately stop arms sales and military aid to Israel if there is evidence that the Israeli military is unlawfully using U.S. weapons, Human Rights Watch said. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry should also expeditiously file a declaration with the International Criminal Court allowing it to investigate and prosecute crimes within the jurisdiction of the court on Lebanese territory since October 2023.

In a March 27 Telegram post, the Israeli military said that “warplanes had attacked a military compound in the al-Habbariyeh area of ​​southern Lebanon” and that “a major terrorist belonged to al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya.”‘ The organization (The Islamic Group) that carried out attacks on Israeli territory was eliminated along with other terrorists who accompanied him.” A member of parliament representing the Islamic Group, a Lebanese Islamist political party whose armed wing, the Fajr Forces involved in cross-border hostilities with Israel told Human Rights Watch that no fighters from the group were killed in the attack and denied any affiliation with the Lebanese Succor Association’s Emergency and Relief Corps.

Human Rights Watch interviewed six people from Habbarieh: the parents of three of those killed, the owner of the house, a member of the emergency and rescue team who left the center shortly before the attack, and a resident who was on site shortly after the attack, and a local official. Human Rights Watch also spoke with the head of the Lebanese Succor Association’s emergency and relief corps, a member of parliament representing the Islamic group, and two people from the General Directorate of Lebanon’s Civil Defense, including the head of the civil defense team that pulled the bodies from the rubble.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed photos of weapons remains found at the site; Photos and videos of the site before and after the attack shared online by journalists, news outlets and rescue workers; and footage shared directly with researchers. Human Rights Watch sent a letter with findings and questions to the Israeli military and the U.S. State Department on April 19, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Footage of weapons remnants found at the site of the attack and shared with Human Rights Watch included a metal remnant marked “MPR 500.”,, confirmed that it was a 500-pound class general-purpose bomb manufactured by Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems, as well as remains of the guard rail and a tail fin from a JDAM guidance kit manufactured by the US-based Boeing Company.

Two verified photos posted on the Emergency and Relief Corps Facebook page on March 28 and taken at the attack site show remains in the same location that were seen in the photos sent directly to Human Rights Watch. The photos were shared by a Habbarieh resident who was on the scene shortly after the attack and by a journalist in Beirut who shared photos of the same group of remains on display at the memorial service for the seven volunteers.

The seven people killed were all volunteers who began working at the center shortly after its branch opened in Habbarieh in late 2023, their families, colleagues and the head of the Emergency and Relief Corps said. Those killed were 18-year-old twin brothers Ahmad and Hussein al-Chaar, Abdul Rahman al-Chaar, Ahmad Hammoud, Mohammed Farouk Atwi, Abdullah Atwi and Baraa Abou Qaiss; the oldest person in this group was 25 years old.

The attack occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. and killed all seven workers at the center, said Samer Hamdan, the head of the civil defense team on site. Photos and videos taken by residents and journalists show the center leveled and a destroyed ambulance parked nearby with noticeable red markings on the back and sides.

Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target. The Israeli military’s admission in its Telegram post that it targeted the center because it was a relief center suggests at least that it failed to take all possible precautions to check whether it was the target was a military objective and to avoid loss of civilian life and damage to civilian objects. make the strike illegal.

An Islamic group official said that while some of the Islamic group’s supporters were volunteers in the Lebanese Succor Association, they did not include fighters from its armed wing, the Fajr Forces. Content posted on social media and reviewed by Human Rights Watch suggests that at least two of the people killed may have been followers of the Islamic group. In one case, between 2016 and 2018, the individual posted four photos on his Facebook page with the Islamic group’s banner and images. Another photo posted on social media showed a third person holding an assault rifle while wearing a camouflage suit. The person’s mother said that her son, like other men in the village, used rifles to hunt and did not belong to any armed group. Family members of those killed, the Lebanese Succor Association and Civil Defense all said the seven men were civilians and did not belong to any armed group. A lawmaker representing the Islamic group, which has a history of making public statements when its fighters have been killed, told Human Rights Watch that none of its fighters were killed in the strike and the group publicly denied any ties to the group have denied.

“We turned over every stone,” said Hamdan. “All we found was emergency and medical equipment and devices. Overalls, helmets, gauze, first aid kits. That’s it.”

In retaliation for the attack, Hezbollah said it fired rockets later that morning at the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shimona and the headquarters of the 769th Brigade. According to media reports, one civilian was killed in the Hezbollah attack. Later that day, Israeli strikes killed nine people, including Hezbollah and Amal fighters and three other medical workers linked to the two groups. According to an AFP tally, at least 73 civilians and more than 300 fighters have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon since October 2023 through May 1.

Rocket and rocket attacks and other attacks by Hezbollah and Palestinian armed groups against Israel in Lebanon since October 2023 have reportedly killed at least nine civilians and 11 soldiers. More than 92,000 people have been displaced from their homes in southern Lebanon and at least 80,000 people have been displaced from northern Israel.

Under international humanitarian law, all parties to a conflict are obliged to distinguish between combatants and civilians and to target only combatants. If there is any doubt as to whether a person is a civilian, that person must be considered a civilian. When carrying out military operations, care must always be taken to protect the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects. All possible precautions must be taken to avoid and in any case minimize accidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. Each party to the conflict must do its utmost to verify that the targets are military. Anyone who commits serious violations of the laws of war with criminal intent – i.e. intentionally or negligently – can be prosecuted for war crimes. The attack, which destroyed an emergency and relief center occupied only by civilians, demonstrated a significant failure to take adequate security measures to ensure that the targets were military and resulted in the deaths of civilians according to Human Rights Watch.

In March, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam submitted a joint memorandum to the U.S. State Department highlighting numerous Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and stating that Israel’s assurances that it would legally use U.S. weapons were not credible.

“The uninterrupted and unconditional flow of weapons despite Israel’s systematic violations of the laws of war and the impunity of these abuses facilitate the continued unlawful killing of civilians, including aid workers,” Kaiss said. “Israel’s behavior in Gaza and Lebanon violates U.S. and international law, and President Biden must urgently stop the flow of weapons to prevent further atrocities.”