Israel accused of using banned weapons

“Like low-yield nuclear weapons, but without the problems of radiation”

Lebanon’s Information Minister Ghazi Aridi has accused Israel of using banned weapons in violation of international law.

Reports in the Lebanese media have claimed that Israel has used phosphorus incendiary bombs and vacuum bombs also known as "Thermobaric weapons" that suck up air and facilitate building collapses. The use of incendiary weapons against civilians has been banned since 1980.

The force of fuel-air blasts from “vacuum bombs” can burst eyeballs out of their sockets and crush other internal organs. Thermobaric weapons distinguish themselves from conventional weapons by using atmospheric oxygen, instead of carrying an oxidizer in their explosives.

They are also called high-impulse thermobaric weapons (HITs), fuel-air explosives (FAE or FAX) or sometimes "fuel-air munitions", "heat and pressure" weapons, or vacuum bombs.

They produce more explosive energy for a given size than do other conventional explosives. The are the next worst thing to a nuclear explosion.

These are the weapons being used to destroy the city of Beirut.

How Vacuum Bombs work

Some thermobaric weapons work by first expelling a cloud of explosive mist using a small charge, then igniting it with a second charge.

These consist of a container of a volatile liquid (or a finely powdered explosive or a metal powder) and, typically, two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge (or some other dispersal mechanism) bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen. Once the fuel is appropriately mixed, the second charge detonates, propagating an explosion (blast wave) through the cloud.

Many newer types of thermobaric weapons do not disperse the fuel before igniting it, but are "single stage" bombs which have one explosive charge that both ignites and disperses the fuel.

This cloud is then ignited and the subsequent fireball sears the surrounding area while consuming the oxygen in this area.

The lack of oxygen creates an enormous overpressure.

This overpressure, or blast wave, is the primary casualty-producing force. In several dozen microseconds, the pressure at the center of the explosion can reach 30 kilograms per square centimeter (427 pounds per square inch) – normal atmospheric pressure at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch with a temperature between 2,500-3,000 degrees Centigrade [4,532-5,432 degrees Fahrenheit].

As a result, a fuel-air explosive can have the effect of a tactical nuclear weapon without residual radiation.

Weapon effects

Since a fuel-air mixture flows easily into any cavities, neither natural terrain features nor non-hermetically sealed field fortifications (emplacements, covered slit trenches, bunkers) protect against the effects of fuel-air explosives. If a fuel-air charge is fired inside a building or bunker, the cloud is contained and this amplifies the destruction of the load-bearing components of the structure.

Fuel-air can be an effective weapon against exposed enemy personnel, combat equipment, fortified areas and individual fighting positions. It can be used to clear minefields and to clear and prepare landing zones for assault forces and helicopters. It can be used to destroy communication centers and urban strong points.

The blast wave destroys unreinforced buildings such as apartment blocks and commercial buildings.Unprotected personnel are injured or killed as well. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes, on personnel with body armor, and in "stiff" enclosed spaces such as caves, buildings, and bunkers.

Following the initial blast is a phase in which the pressure drops below atmospheric pressure creating an airflow back to the center of the explosion strong enough to lift and throw a human. It draws in the unexploded burning fuel to create almost complete penetration of all non-airtight objects within the blast radius, which are then incinerated.

Asphyxiation and internal damage can also occur to personnel outside the highest blast effect zone, e.g. in deeper tunnels, as a result of the blast wave, the heat, or the following air draw.

Some fuels used, such as ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, are highly toxic. A device using such fuels is very dangerous even if the fuel fails to ignite; the device then becomes essentially a chemical weapon.

A thermobaric attack in an urban fight is likely to be very bloody. Those people caught directly under the aerosol cloud will die from the flame or overpressure. For those on the periphery of the strike, the injuries can be severe. Burns, broken bones, contusions from flying debris and blindness may result. Further, the crushing injuries from the overpressure can create air embolism within blood vessels, concussions, multiple internal hemorrhages in the liver and spleen, collapsed lungs, rupture of the eardrums and displacement of the eyes from their sockets.

Displacement and tearing of internal organs can lead to peritonitus. Most military medics are well trained in stopping the bleeding, protecting the wound and treating for shock. Many of the injuries caused by thermobaric weapons are internal and may not be initially noticed by the medic or doctor.

Several legal experts have accused Israel of violating the U.S. Arms Export Control Act by using U.S.-made fighter planes and missiles to kill civilians and to destroy infrastructure.

Defense experts say Israel has over five-hundred F-16 and F-15 fighters planes – all of them supplied by the United States taxpayers.

Sources:

Is Israel breaking International Law? You decide: Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Protocol III Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons. Geneva, 10 October 1980

Report: Israel Violates International Banned Weapons Laws

(Fox News) Cabinet: Lebanon Faces 'Real Annihilation,' Accuses Israel of Using Banned Weapons

(CBS News) - Israel, Lebanon Exchange War Of Words Israel Will Fight Until 'Reality Changes,' Lebanon Fears 'Annihilation'

Vacuum bombs

A 'Crushing' Victory: Fuel-Air Explosives and Grozny 2000 (A US Army report)