Has Israel used 'toxic' depleted uranium in Lebanon?

Israel has been accused of using bombs containing depleted uranium in its bombardment of Lebanon.

“The extent of destruction and the penetration of buildings and ground by dozens of meters is evidence of the use of bombs containing depleted uranium, which has tremendous penetrating power," the Syndicate of Chemists in Lebanon (SCL) said in a statement released on Monday.

The statement further claimed 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 New Arab looks into what depleted uranium is, whether it’s banned and why Israel might have used it.

What is depleted uranium?

Depleted uranium is a form of uranium that has been stripped of most – but not all – of its radioactive matter.

It was derived from the process used to prepare uranium for nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

In the 1970s, the US and UK began to use depleted uranium on conventional (non-nuclear) explosive weapons due to its density and ability to bore through extremely strong defences, such as that used on tanks or in reinforced bunkers.

Depleted uranium is mostly used on tank shells, artillery and mortar rounds, missiles and even bullets.

It was first used in the 1991 Gulf War in Iraq, and extensively again during NATO's intervention in Kosovo in 1999 and and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Has Israel used it in Lebanon?                                           

Though the SCL didn’t provide solid evidence of Israel having used depleted uranium during its relentless airstrikes in Lebanon, there are strong indications that it has been used.

During the strikes that killed the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, as well as 33 civilians, Israel used a type of bomb known as “bunker busters”.

The entire point of a bunker buster is to penetrate or bore through targets to reach, for example, underground and fortified areas of a target. One of the most effective ways of doing this is using armaments that contain depleted uranium.

Though Israel did not confirm what munitions it has used in Lebanon, the New York Times reported that the air force squadron used for the Nasrallah bombing were equipped with BLU-109 missiles, citing an Israeli army video.

These missiles are known to contain explosives coated in depleted uranium.

Moreover, Israel has also been flagged for using depleted uranium munitions during its war on Gaza, including on schools and residential buildings. It is therefore highly likely that it has used depleted uranium munitions in Lebanon.

Why is it controversial?

Depleted uranium is radioactive and identified as a carcinogen. While it is nowhere near as radioactive as any type of nuclear weapon, which uses enriched uranium, it contains enough radioactivity, especially if used in high quantities, to contaminate the air and especially soil.

According to studies of the effects of depleted uranium used by the US in Iraq in 2003, it has been implicated in sharp rises in congenital birth defects, cancer cases and other illnesses.

During the Iraq war, the US dropped 24 bunker buster munitions containing depleted uranium, while Israel, in the single one-minute-long attack that killed Nasrallah, dropped nearly double that amount.

This has led to fears that the long-term effects of the attack could be devastating.

As quoted by Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA), Professor Raif Reda, president of the Lebanese Association of Social Medicine, called for "collecting samples from the bombing sites and sending reports to the United Nations so the world can witness the bloody, criminal history of the Zionist enemy”.

Despite its toxicity, depleted uranium is not banned or even regulated. 

However, a group called the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons has lobbied for them to be made illegal due to the evidence showing that they "prolong war into indefinite time" as a result of long-term environmental and health effects.