The US government said it was “concerned” on Monday after the publication of an article in the Washington Post newspaper which revealed, after analysis of fragments, that the Israeli army used US-made white phosphorus munitions. in artillery strikes in southern Lebanon in October resulting in charred houses.
“We are aware of this article and of course we are concerned. We’re going to ask questions to find out a little bit more,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told reporters.
White phosphorus munitions, by definition incendiary, are prohibited from being used against civilians or civilian targets, but not against military targets, under the Third Protocol to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) signed in 1980 in Geneva.
There are also other “legitimate” uses of white phosphorous munitions, such as “illuminating” the field or creating “smoke screens to cover movements,” John Kirby recalled.
“Whenever we supply material like white phosphorus to another military we do so with the full expectation that it will be used for legitimate purposes under the law of war,” he added.
“White phosphorus can be used legally at the military level, but not against civilians,” the State Department spokesman also remindedMatthew Miller, adding that the Biden administration is trying to gather “further information.”
The US is the main supplier of military equipment to Israel and President Joe Biden has pledged that Washington will support it in the war against Hamas, as reported by AFP and relayed by the Athens News Agency.
THE Lebanon has been accusing Israel for weeks of using white phosphorus munitions in strikes against Hezbollah fighters in the southern part of the country, causing huge fires.
The NGO Amnesty International said for its part that it has “evidence of illegal use by Israel of white phosphorus (ammunition) between October 10 and 16” and called for a “war crime investigation”.
In mid-October, Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
“We deny these accusations,” they are “undoubtedly false,” an Israeli army spokesman said at the time.
Source: News Beast
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