The Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (SCL) warned yesterday that the extent of destruction and the depth of damage to buildings and the ground confirms the use of internationally banned bombs containing depleted uranium by Israeli forces, warning of the risk of contracting many diseases as a result of inhaling the dust caused by the bombing.
It said in a “very important warning” that it condemns “the barbaric aggression against civilians in Lebanon and the massacres being committed against the Lebanese people,” noting that the warning aims “to raise awareness about the effects of inhaling the dust from Israeli bombings in several Lebanese areas.”
“The extent of destruction and the penetration of buildings and ground by dozens of metres is evidence of the use of bombs containing depleted uranium, which has tremendous penetrating power,” it added.
The SCL stressed that “the use of such types of internationally banned weapons, especially in densely populated Beirut, leads to massive destruction, and their dust causes many diseases, especially when inhaled.”
The SCL called on “the international community to stop the aggression against Lebanon, and to stop the use of internationally banned bombs.”
It also called on the Lebanese state to file a lawsuit with the UN Security Council “against the violations taking place on Lebanese soil and the attempted mass killings of innocent civilians.”
Citizens, it added, should not “approach the bombed areas within a radius of more than two kilometres,” while those forced to approach these areas must “wear protective clothing”.
The SCL confirmed that it “closely monitors the enemy’s use of internationally banned weapons.”
The most prominent use of these anti-fortification bombs was during the assassination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on 27 September, in addition to attempts to kill his successor, Hashem Safieddine.
Israel has killed 1,204 people in Lebanon since it launched its most vicious attack on the country in nearly 20 years on 23 September. More than 1.2 million have been displaced.
I just don’t understand the use of DU in bombs against anything other than heavy armor. NATO did this in Yugoslavia too.
It’s the only reason to use DU anything for any reason. Even if used against “heavy armor” the knock-on effect of poisoning the land and its people are desired. It’s the modern version of salting the earth. It’s the same reason Agent Orange was used in Vietnam. The key difference here is that Agent Orange had no real technical use case. It was being used as Ecocide, in an attempt to destroy the forest cover being used at the time. It’s not like Agent Orange was somehow dealing with a new form of tank armor, besides, it was an aerosol spray that blanketed an area. Now, however, we have this convenient technical application, which is penetrating “heavy armor” mech units. The ammunition is tipped with DU, and the US regularly says it has not seen trustworthy evidence that the resulting impact leaves enough DU to cause health issues. It’s clear that zero care is made in ensuring minimal ecological damage is done by these munitions, though, as there are many studies of battle zones that show an uptick in cancer rates and birth defects.
The DU bombs have even less legs to stand on. What does a DU bomb do that a conventional bomb couldn’t do when targeting residential structures? Trying to justify its use is equivalent to trying to justify the use of Agent Orange. These buildings are not hardened targets, they’re apartment complexes, hospitals, and schools. That alone should raise red flags for most, but it doesn’t. Even if it doesn’t make you pause, the use of DU bombs on those targets, I would hope, would make you pause.
Officially, it would be for bunker busting to penetrate deeper into the ground and fortified structures. Unofficially, this is an easy way to make a “mild” dirty bomb. There’s nothing this does that tungsten alloys can’t, although tungsten dust from KE penetrators will also poison you.
There’s nothing this does that tungsten alloys can’t
That’s not exactly true, tungsten is not self sharpening on impact, while DU is, which allows for greater penetration. That’s not even considering the pyrophoric/incendiary properties of DU, in which the DU material ignites on contact with the air in the interior of a target after penetrating the armour, due to the high temperature, leading to secondary explosions and the ignition of anyone or anything inside. There is a reason Russia and China have also developed penetrator rounds using DU. This stuff needs to be banned in weaponry before every large military on the planet gets their hands on it. Though every time a ban or investigation is proposed, the USA, France and the UK vote against it, while Russia and China are absent or abstain from voting on the issue, because these countries are the primary manufacturers of DU penetrator weapons. They do not want to give up their perceived military advantages.
That’s true, but overrated; for the actual applications of DU and Tungsten, which is penetrating armour, tungsten is not inferior by much.
DU doesn’t self sharpen in the way people think it does, it just kind of mushrooms less, though it might help penetration in very poorly normalized impacts. And the fact that it ignites is inconsequential in Soviet style autoloaded tanks anyways, since if you hit the carousel you explode instantly. Might be a bit more useful vs western tanks with the bustle ammo ig?
The primary advantage of DU is if you have a nuclear program you get it for much much cheaper than tungsten.
Most of the confirmed DU in Yugoslavia was not from bombs, but from the 30mm rounds fired by the A10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft’s Gatling gun. Approximately 10 000 rounds were estimated to have been fired by A-10s during the conflict, with around 8 192 of these being confirmed by NATO and Yugoslav reports. That accounts for approximately 3 metric tonnes of DU confirmed to have been fired at Yugoslavia, as each individual round contained between 280-300g of DU.
The rest of the DU accounted in estimates of between 9-11 total metric tonnes, is said to have come from Tomahawk cruise missiles. This estimate assumes that every Tomahawk cruise missile fired contained a total of 20kg of DU each. This is calculated by taking the total weight of the missile minus the booster stage at 1300kg, and subtracting the estimated weight of the airframe (400kg) and the weight of the explosives in the warhead (450kg). This leaves 450kg of weight left, of which 430kg is calculated to be fuel for the engine, based on a flight time of 2 hours at an average speed of 800kph/500mph, and the engines fuel consumption of 215kg of fuel per hour at 3.1KN of thrust. This leaves 20kg of weight that is unaccounted for, which was guessed to be all DU. While this is mathematically possible, I don’t find such an estimate to be convincing as the 20kg could easily be attributed to other systems. What this does prove is that estimates of tomahawk missiles containing more than 20kg of DU are not feasible unless the entire explosive warhead is forgone for a DU penetrator, which is unrealistic for a cruise missile with a median error radius of 10m.
What is this headline. “internationally banned bombs”
Welcome to the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD), that spreads every time certain weapons systems are used in war. I still remember the absurd claims about Tomahawk cruise missiles containing 400kg of Depleted Uranium (DU) each during the bombing of Libya.
The truth is that weapons containing DU are considered a conventional weapon and not banned by the ICJ or the United Nations, the ICJ’s ruling on nuclear weapons does not apply to DU weapons as their primary purpose is to increase penetration through a kinetic strike, rather than spread radiation or a nuclear blast. While I agree that DU should be banned internationally, misinformation is not helpful to that cause.
If they are using DU weapons in their “bunker buster” bombs then look up DU Iraq birth defects.
The US used DU weapons which atomized the heavy metal everywhere. Soil, air, water.
CW GRAPHIC pics of severe birth defects, dying, dead children Fallujah Birth Defects
Aparently concentrations of Thorium was also among the burn pits which also contributed to the birth defects.
Hot damn. i thought israel couldn’t go any lower, then i learn the us not only has done the same but has suffered no international condemnation. I did not know this. … I feel a little dizzy now from this shock actually ngl. Im sorry i must admit i didn’t read the articles as there’s no way in heck i can see apic of a suffering child… Fuckin hell man
i learn the us not only has done the same but has suffered no international condemnation
And unfortunately there won’t be any major international condemnation, because the USA’s main geopolitical rivals in Russia and China, also make use of weapons containing depleted uranium (DU). It reminds me of when the US and UK agreed to supply Ukraine anti tank ammunition containing DU for the Abrams and Challenger tanks they gave to Ukraine, and Russian government officials condemned that action, before quickly going silent on it as Russian T-80 tanks also made use of DU anti tank ammunition, and there was photographic evidence of such.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
