The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on 10/3 that two people died and one was injured in central Israel from an Iranian cluster warhead missile attack. The IDF released these statistics a day after the incident, adding that it had destroyed or neutralized over 300 missile launchers, representing 60% of Iran's missile capabilities.

Israeli defense officials stated that cluster warhead missiles can disperse dozens of submunitions, each containing several kilograms of explosives, over an area with a radius of approximately 10 km. "Efforts to intercept them remain effective but face many challenges. Israel's air defense forces cannot fully protect all areas", an official told the Times of Israel.

Iranian missile disperses submunitions during an attack on Israel on 5/3. Photo: Flash90

The IDF assessed that in recent days, Iran launched small numbers of missiles in each attack, struggling to conduct larger-scale coordinated operations.

Iran launched approximately 90 ballistic missiles at Israel when the conflict erupted on 28/2, a number that decreased to about 60 the following day. For the next six days, Iran used approximately 20 missiles daily, divided into multiple waves. On 8-9/3, Iran fired fewer than 20 projectiles, either in small batches or as individual launches.

The Israeli Air Force announced on 10/3 that it had detected a ballistic missile launcher in western Iran preparing to fire. "An Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) deployed to the area and destroyed the launcher, eliminating the operating crew minutes before they could fire", the IDF stated.

Israel destroys a target believed to be an Iranian ballistic missile launcher in a video released on 10/3. Video: IDF

The Middle East has been embroiled in conflict since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on 28/2. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) retaliated by firing missiles and UAVs at Israel and US bases in Arab countries across the region.

In Israel, 12 people died and 2,000 were injured in Iranian missile and UAV attacks. The IDF Home Front Command reported that Iranian missiles targeted military bases, critical infrastructure, and some residential areas in Israel.

Cluster bombs are dropped from aircraft, while cluster munitions are typically launched from artillery, rockets, and missiles. These weapons are large but cause damage not through conventional explosives or penetrating warheads, but by dispersing a large quantity of submunitions as they approach the target.

When a military decides to use cluster munitions, it indicates that the weapon's precision is less prioritized than its capacity for large-scale lethality.

However, this also means military commanders pay less attention to the long-term consequences of cluster munitions. Some submunitions may malfunction with their fuses, preventing them from activating and causing them to fall to the ground or become entangled in foliage, scattering over wide areas without any marked maps.

Middle Eastern countries. Graphic: Guardian

These unexploded submunitions retain their activation mechanism and can detonate when touched, even years after a conflict has ended. This poses a particularly high risk to children, who lack knowledge about military weapons.

In 2008, 123 countries signed the Oslo Convention, banning the production, stockpiling, sale, and use of cluster bombs and munitions. Iran, Israel, and the United States are not signatories to this convention.

Nguyen Tien (According to AFP, AP, Times of Israel)