Israel says Iran fired cluster bomb-bearing missile

20/6/2025 5:47

Iran fired at least one missile at

Israel that scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing

civilian casualties, the Israeli military said on Thursday, the

first reported use of cluster munitions in the seven-day-old

war.



Israeli military officials provided no further details.



Israeli news reports quoted the Israeli military as saying

the missile’s warhead split open at an altitude of about 4 miles

(7 km) and released around 20 submunitions in a radius of around

5 miles (8 km) over central Israel.



One of the small munitions struck a home in the central

Israeli town of Azor, causing some damage, Times of Israel

military correspondent Emanuel Fabian reported. There were no

reports of casualties from the bomb.



Cluster bombs are controversial because they

indiscriminately scatter submunitions, some of which can fail to

explode and kill or injure long after a conflict ends.



The Israeli military released a graphic as a public warning

of the dangers of unexploded ordnance.



“The terror regime seeks to harm civilians and even used

weapons with wide dispersal in order to maximize the scope of

the damage,” Israel's military spokesperson, Brigadier General

Effie Defrin, told a briefing.



Iran’s mission to the United Nations and Israel’s embassy in

Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



"They are egregious weapons with their wide-area

destruction, especially if used in a civilian populated area and

could add to the unexploded ordnance left over from conflicts,"

said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control

Association advocacy group.



Noting that Iranian missiles can be imprecise, he said that

Tehran should know that cluster munitions "are going to hit

civilian targets rather than military targets."



Iran and Israel declined to join a 2008 international ban on

the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of cluster bombs

that has been signed by 111 countries and 12 other entities.

After extensive debate, the U.S. in 2023 supplied Ukraine

with cluster munitions for use against Russian occupation

forces. Kyiv says Russian troops also have fired them. The three

countries declined to join the Convention Against Cluster

Munitions.